Caliber Global Investment prices $100 million of stock; Medicure secures $25.6 million from PIPE

By Sheri Kasprzak

New York, May 5 - Caliber Global Investment Ltd., a U.K.-based company, led PIPE action to round out the week, pricing a $100 million private placement of its stock.

The offering includes up to 9,523,810 shares at $10.50 each to be placed with institutional investors.

Deutsche Bank AG is the bookrunner.

The stock gained 3p to close at £10.90 Friday (London: CLBR).

The proceeds from the deal will be used to invest in a portfolio of securities and other investments. Some of the proceeds will be used to reduce debt.

Caliber, based in Guernsey, U.K., is an investment company focused on residential mortgage-backed securities, commercial mortgage-backed securities, loans and other debt instruments.

Looking to the biotech sector, Medicure, Inc. announced its plans to settle a $25.6 million private placement of stock with U.S.- and Europe-based institutional investors.

Word of the offering sent the company's stock down 7 cents, or 4.05%, to end the day at $1.66 (Amex: MCU).

Medicure intends to sell 16 million shares at $1.60 each and issue warrants for 4 million additional shares. The price per share is a 7.5% discount to the company's $1.73 closing stock price on Thursday.

The warrants are exercisable at $2.10 each for five years.

Deutsche Bank Securities Inc. was the bookrunner of the offering, which is scheduled to close in the coming days.

Medicure plans to use the proceeds to develop its lead clinical products - MC-1 and MC-4232. The rest will be used for general corporate purposes.

"We are extremely pleased with the degree of U.S. institutional interest exhibited in this placement and are delighted to welcome a number of new high-quality investors as Medicure shareholders," said Medicure chief Albert Friesen in a news release. "We remain committed to advancing our partnership discussions for the development of MC-1. The proceeds of this financing provides us with the flexibility to proceed with the single phase 3 MEND-CABG study with MC-1."

Medicure recently reported a net loss of C$2.72 millionfor the quarter ended Feb. 28, compared with a net loss of C$3.82 million for the same quarter of 2005.

Based in Winnipeg, Man., Medicure develops treatments for cardiovascular disorders.

Amedia raises $10 million

In the tech sector, Amedia Networks, Inc. clinched a $10 million offering of 8% senior secured convertible debentures.

The two-year debentures were sold to institutional and private investors.

The conversion price could not be determined Friday.

Proceeds from the deal will be used for the development of the company's products and for the retirement of short-term debt.

"We believe that investors have provided these funds as an affirmation that we are on the right path in executing our business plan," said Amedia chief executive officer Frank Galuppo in a statement. "They are impressed with our current and planned product portfolio, the overall experience of our management team, and our strong technology foundation."

The stock climbed a penny on Friday to close at $1.01 (OTCBB: AANI).

Based in Holmdel, N.J., Amedia develops technology-based broadband access products for voice, video and data services.

Virginia Mines' C$5.05 million deal

As gold prices climbed to near-record levels, Virginia Mines Inc. announced the imminent completion of a C$5,047,393 private placement with Goldcorp Inc.

Goldcorp agreed to buy 1,210,406 units at C$4.17 apiece.

The units are comprised of one share and one warrant for 0.4 of a share. The whole warrants are exercisable at C$5.84.

The deal is slated to close within five days.

Quebec City-based Virginia Mines is a mineral exploration company.

Meanwhile, gold prices climbed to $686.50 an ounce, just shy of a 25-year high of $687 per ounce.

Internationally, London's Avocet Mining plc closed out a £30.5 million private placement of 15.25 million shares at 200p apiece, a 7.5% discount to the closing middle market price of 216.5p on Thursday.

Avocet's stock climbed 10.25p to end the day at 226.75p (London: AVM).

Evolution Securities Ltd. was the placement agent.

Of the proceeds, up to $25 million of the proceeds to develop a new gold mine in the Bakan district of Indonesia. The rest will be used for additional exploration, expansion and general corporate purposes.

Avocet is a gold explorer.

Another London gold company, Mercator Gold plc, priced £10 million private placement.

The offering includes 14,285,715 shares at 70p each.

Mercator's stock gained 3p on Friday to settle at 84p (London: MCR).

Cenkos Securities Ltd. and Ocean Equities Ltd. are the placement agents, and the proceeds will be used for the exploitation of properties in the Meekatharra district of Western Australia.

Pico stock dips

A day after announcing its plans to complete a $78 million private placement of stock, Pico Holdings, Inc. saw its stock slip slightly.

The stock fell 13 cents, or 0.4%, to end the day at $32.11 (Nasdaq: PICO).

On Thursday, when the deal was announced, the stock dropped 24 cents, or 0.74%, to close at $32.24.

In the placement, two institutional investors agreed to buy shares of Pico at $30.00 each, a 7% discount to Pico's closing stock price of $32.24 on Thursday.

Pico, based in La Jolla, Calif., is a holding company for Vidler Water Co., a water resource development business, and for Nevada Land & Resource Co., a private landowner in Nevada.

Vineyard stock falls

Vineyard National Bancorp.'s stock fell on Friday after closing its previously announced $31.8 million direct placement of stock.

Vineyard's stock dropped 6 cents, or 0.22%, to close at $27.80 (Nasdaq: VNBC) on Friday after gaining 16 cents on Thursday when the deal was announced.

Vineyard has entered into agreements with three institutional investors to sell shares at $26.50 each.

The price per share represents a 4.3% discount to the company's $27.70 closing stock price on Wednesday.

The shares will be sold under the company's shelf registration.

RBC Capital Markets Corp. is the placement agent.

The proceeds from the deal will be used to enhance the company's regulatory capital ratios ahead of its merger with Rancho Bank.

Based in Rancho Cucamonga, Calif., Vineyard operates a chain of banks in Southern California.

© 2015 Prospect News.
All content on this website is protected by copyright law in the U.S. and elsewhere. For the use of the person downloading only.
Redistribution and copying are prohibited by law without written permission in advance from Prospect News.
Redistribution or copying includes e-mailing, printing multiple copies or any other form of reproduction.