Volume remains slow as week ends; New Century Energy raises $15 million in note offering

By Sheri Kasprzak

New York, July 8 - As the markets rounded out the week on Friday, volume remained relatively sluggish, sell-siders said, pushed down by Thursday's attacks on London and by the expected economic impact of Hurricane Dennis.

Oil prices have already responded to the hurricane, which is making its way up to the Gulf of Mexico.

Oil dropped $1.10 to end at $59.63 per barrel in trading Friday.

"A lot of things are going on that are making us stop for a second and wait for the turnout," said one sell-sider. "We had those bombings in London, we have [Hurricane] Dennis to look out for. For the most part, I think most of us are sitting on our hands right now, waiting to see what the impact will be for both of those events."

Another sell-sider agreed that it's just too early to tell what the economic impacts of both the London attacks and the impending hurricane might be.

"It's a wait-and-see game and sure, it's affecting PIPEs," he said. "It's pretty much affecting every market. Personally, I think we'll be all right. I don't think the impact is going to be nearly as bad as some people have been saying."

In fact, stocks made some significant gains to close out the week with the Dow Jones Industrial Average ending up 146.85 at 10,449.14; the Nasdaq composite index rising 37.22 to close at 2,112.88 and the S&P 500 edging up 13.99 to close at 1,211.86.

Volume remained sluggish even in Canada Friday, with the usual mineral and oil exploration companies noticeably absent.

"Just Friday," said one market source. "Things always slow down a bit near the end of the week, but there are a few things going on. Oil is getting socked by that hurricane, so that's part of it."

New Century's $15 million deal

Houston-based oil and natural gas exploration company New Century Corp. announced Friday that it has completed a private placement of a convertible term note.

The note, which was sold to Laurus Master Fund, Ltd., matures June 30, 2008, bears interest at Prime plus 200 basis points with a floor of 7% and is convertible into a total of 24,193,548 shares at $0.62 each.

Laurus received warrants for up to 7,258,065 shares, exercisable at $0.80 each through June 30, 2012. Laurus also has an option to buy up to 10,222,784 shares at $1 each, representing 20% of the company's stock on a fully diluted basis.

"This one had been priced right in line," said one sell-sider when asked why the company's closing stock price was so much lower than the conversion price. "This one priced right when oil was through the roof and since it's been retreating, the company's stocks have been too. So as far as that goes, it was a good deal."

On Friday, New Century's stock closed unchanged at $0.36.

Corporate Properties raises $4.88 million

Moving away from natural resources, Corporate Properties, Ltd., a Toronto-based real estate company, completed a private placement of short-term debt for US$4,887,500.

The debt matures on Jan. 31, 2008, bears interest at 6% annually and is convertible into common shares at C$1.10 for each dollar of debt through Jan. 31, 2007.

Based in Toronto, Corporate Properties is a real estate company for industrial and corporate clients.

The company's stock closed unchanged at C$1.10 on Friday.

Canadian offerings

Two Canadian offerings were announced Friday.

Vancouver, B.C.-based Icron Technologies announced its plans to raise C$3.6 million in a private placement.

The deal includes 2 million units sold at C$1.80 each.

The units consist of one share and one half-share warrant. The whole warrants allow for the purchase of an additional share at C$2.25 each for 18 months.

MGI Securities Inc. is the placement agent in the deal.

The proceeds will be used for research and development and for working capital.

Icron develops technologies to extend universal serial bus connections via wires and wirelessly. The technology is used in the aerospace, medical device, industrial automation and computer networking sectors.

Icron's stock closed down C$0.12 at C$1.75 Friday.

The second offering, this one from Montreal-based MTY Food Group Inc., calls for the sale of 1 million shares at C$3.50 each to a single investor for C$3.5 million.

The proceeds will be used for working capital.

MTY operates a fast-food restaurant chain. Its stock closed up C$0.09 to end at C$4.04 Friday.

Nexicon's stock makes gains

A day after announcing the closing of its $20 million equity line with Cornell Capital Partners, LP, Nexicon Inc.'s stock rose significantly.

The company's stock gained $0.0056, or 21.54%, to close at $0.0316 Friday.

On Thursday, when the closing was first announced, the company's stock closed down $0.002 at $0.026.

Under the terms of the standby equity distribution agreement, Cornell will buy shares from Nexicon at 99% of the lowest volume weighted-average price of the company's stock for five trading days immediately after the notice of a draw.

Based in Albuquerque, N.M., Nexicon is a network controls, security and operational support company.

SmarTire's stock recovers

SmarTire Systems Inc.'s stock rebounded after wrapping up $190 million in private placements earlier this week.

The company's stock closed up $0.001, or 0.78%, to close at $0.130 Friday.

On Thursday, the company's stock slid $0.001 to close at $0.129 and on Wednesday, when the closings were first announced, the company's stock remained unchanged at $0.13.

SmarTire received a standby equity distribution agreement, priced at 98% of the lowest closing bid price five trading days after notice of a draw. The company also sold convertible debentures with a conversion price at $0.1125 each.

SmarTire, based in Richmond, B.C., develops technologies used to monitor tire pressure.

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