Cyclacel to close $35.58 million direct placement; Favrille secures $10 million from stock offering

By Sheri Kasprzak and Laura Lutz

New York, Feb. 13 - Cyclacel Pharmaceuticals, Inc. led PIPE news Tuesday, announcing the pending completion of a $35,579,250 direct placement of units. Another biopharmaceutical company, Favrille, Inc., was also in the news with a $10 million registered direct deal.

Cyclacel plans to sell 4.2 million units of one share and one quarter-share warrant at $8.47125 each. The price per share was only a slight discount to the company's $8.50 closing stock price on Monday.

"I think they did pretty well," said a buy-side source familiar with Cyclacel. "They managed to sell right in line, which says to me that the investors are interested enough that they'll buy near market price. That's good news for them."

Even so, Cyclacel's stock got off to a rocky start in trading Tuesday, losing 4% by 11 a.m. ET. The stock eventually dropped 40 cents, or 4.71%, to close at $8.10 (Nasdaq: CYCC).

The whole warrants associated with the deal are exercisable at $8.44 each.

Lazard Capital Markets LLC was the lead agent for the deal, which is slated to wrap up on Feb. 16.

Cyclacel completed a similar offering in April 2006, selling 6.43 million units of one share and one warrant for four-tenths of share at $7.05 each for proceeds of $45,331,500. The investors in that deal included Deerfield Management, Federated Kaufmann Fund and Red Abbey Ventures.

Headquartered in Berkley Heights, N.J., Cyclacel develops treatments for cancer and other disorders.

Favrille to close deal

In other biopharmaceutical offerings Tuesday, Favrille, Inc. secured $10 million from a direct offering of its stock with a group of investors that includes Federated Kaufmann and MPM BioEquities Adviser, LLC.

The investors agreed to buy 3,333,334 shares at $3.00 apiece. The deal was expected to close Tuesday.

The shares are being offered under the company's shelf registration.

Favrille's stock also dropped early, losing almost 4% by 11:20 a.m. ET. (Nasdaq: FVRL).

Favrille is no stranger to the PIPE market either. The company received a $40 million committed equity financing facility from Kingsbridge Capital Ltd. in December of 2006.

San Diego-based Favrille is a biopharmaceutical company focused on developing immunotherapies to treat cancer.

Favrille's stock lost 10 cents, or 3.06%, to close Tuesday at $3.17 (Nasdaq: FVRL).

Celtic to sell flow-through shares

In the oil sector, Celtic Exploration Ltd. priced a C$24.975 million private placement of flow-through shares.

The announcement came as oil gained $1.25 to close at $59.06 per barrel.

Celtic plans to sell 1.5 million flow-through shares at C$16.65 each in the deal.

A syndicate led by FirstEnergy Corp. and including BMO Nesbitt Burns Inc, GMP Securities LP, TD Securities Inc., Orion Securities Inc., Peters & Co. Ltd., Tristone Capital Inc., Canaccord Capital Corp. and RBC Capital Markets will act as underwriters.

Settlement is expected on Feb. 27.

The planned offering follows a C$17.25 million private placement of flow-through shares that the company priced in August 2006.

Celtic is a Calgary, Alta.-based oil and gas company.

The company's stock dropped 10 cents, or 0.77%, to end at C$12.90 on Tuesday (Toronto: CLT).

Rolland, Aurus plan offerings

Another Canadian oil and gas company, Rolland Energy Inc., announced plans for a private placement of convertible debentures.

The terms of the deal have not been decided, but it was expected to close on Feb. 16.

That company's shares lost C$0.005, or 3.45%, to close at C$0.14 on Tuesday (TSX Venture: VBS).

Rolland also has a history in the PIPEs market, raising C$1.5 million from a private placement of units that settled in December.

Also announcing upcoming plans was Aurus Corp. with a $50 million private placement of five-year convertible debentures.

Canadian private equity fund Kyoto Holdings Inc. will be the investor.

Aurus previously raised $10 million from a private placement of stock in September.

The New York-based mining company will receive the first tranche of the financing on Feb. 16. Its stock lost 5 cents, or 12.63%, to close at $0.083 on Tuesday (Pink Sheets: AURC).

Continental again upsizes deal

Also in the mining sector, Continental Minerals Corp. increased the size of its previously announced private placement of units to C$37 million from C$25 million.

The deal, which priced on Jan. 30, was already upsized from C$20 million on Feb. 5.

The most recent increase is the result of Taseko Mines Ltd.'s decision to exercise its pre-emptive right to participate in the placement, subscribing for C$12 million.

In total, the company plans to sell about 22.4 million units of one share and one warrant to accredited investors for C$1.65 per unit. Each warrant will be exercisable at C$1.80 for one year.

Expiry of the warrants may be accelerated to 30 days if the company's shares trade at or above C$2.25 for ten consecutive trading days at any time more than four months after the warrants are issued.

Continental is a Vancouver, B.C.-based mineral exploration company.

Proceeds will be used to complete the Xietongmen feasibility study, the environmental impact assessment and the 10,000-meter exploration drill program to define the size of the Newtongmen discovery. The rest will be used for working capital.

The company's stock gained 13 cents, or 7.39%, to close at C$1.89 on Tuesday (TSX Venture: KMK).

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