American Real Estate pockets another $300 million from notes; Oilsands Quest plans PIPE

By Sheri Kasprzak

New York, April 17 - American Real Estate Partners, LP added on $300 million more from its previously announced sale of variable-rate senior convertible notes, bringing the total proceeds from the offering to $500 million.

Elsewhere in the PIPE market Tuesday, stocks closed mixed, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average putting on some substantial gains and the Nasdaq composite index edging down.

The movements did not seem to faze at least one sellsider.

"Small movements like that are really not of much concern," he said.

The market source said he feels better-than-expected housing starts data may not have that much of an impact on the PIPE market directly.

"It's really hard to say right now what the impact is going to be," he said. "I have a feeling it will be slight, at best, in terms of what the broader stock market does."

The Dow gained 52.58 to close at 12,773.04 and Nasdaq slipped 1.38 to end at 2,516.95. The Standard & Poor's 500 composite index ended the day up slightly, gaining 3.01 to close at 1,471.48.

Moving back to the American Real Estate offering, the company sold the notes due 2013 to Portside Growth and Opportunity Fund, an investment fund managed by Ramius Capital Group, LLC and an investment fund managed by Highbridge Capital Management, LLC.

The notes bear interest at Libor minus 125 basis points with a 4% floor and a 5.5% ceiling.

The notes are convertible into depositary units at $132.595 each.

On April 5, the company sold $200 million in principal of the notes to the same investors under the same terms.

New York-based American Real Estate Partners is a holding company for real estate, gaming and home fashions industries.

Oilsands Quest's offering

Looking to the energy sector, Oilsands Quest Inc. is negotiating a $30 million private placement of stock.

The offering will be placed through a syndicate of underwriters and will be priced within the context of the market, according to a news release from the company on Tuesday. The deal is set to close May 1.

Proceeds will be used to repay debt incurred by recent property acquisitions, for feasibility testing, for working capital and for general corporate purposes.

On Tuesday, the company's stock fell 17 cents, or 5.18%, to close at $3.11 (Amex: BQI).

The company last tapped the PIPE market in March, selling C$30 million of flow-through shares at C$5.64 each.

Located in Calgary, Alta., Oilsands, formerly known as CanWest Petroleum Corp., is an oil sands exploration company focused on properties in Saskatchewan and Alberta.

Hanwei Energy closes deal

Elsewhere in energy-related offerings, Hanwei Energy Services Corp. wrapped up a private placement for C$30,000,025.

The company sold 13,953,500 shares at C$2.15 each. The shares were sold at a 16.6% discount to the company's C$2.58 closing stock price on March 20, the day before the deal priced.

Proceeds will be used for debt repayment, working capital and capital expenditures.

The company's stock gave up 22 cents, or 6.63%, to end at C$3.10 Tuesday (TSX Venture: HE).

Vancouver, B.C.-based Hanwei provides pipeline services to the oil and natural gas exploration industry.

Arcan prices PIPE

In other Canadian oil news, Arcan Resources Ltd. priced a C$15.2 million offering of stock.

The deal includes up to 4 million shares at C$3.80 each.

The placement is being conducted by a syndicate of underwriters led by FirstEnergy Capital Corp.

Proceeds will be used for the company's ongoing capital expenditure program and for general corporate purposes.

The deal is expected to settle on May 8.

The company's stock gained 5 cents Tuesday to settle at C$4.15 (TSX Venture: ARN).

Based in Calgary, Alta., Arcan is an oil exploration company.

Independent Nickel plans offering

In other resources-related deals, Independent Nickel Corp. priced a C$13 million non-brokered offering of flow-through shares and units.

The deal includes up to 3 million flow-through shares at C$1.00 each and up to 11,764,706 units of one share and one half-share warrant at C$0.85 each. The whole warrants are exercisable at C$1.00 each for 18 months.

Proceeds from the flow-through shares will be used for exploration on the company's Lynn Lake property. The rest will be used for the acquisition of the Minago and Lynn Lake royalties and for working capital.

The stock gained 3 cents to close at C$0.84 on Tuesday (TSX Venture: INI).

Based in Sudbury, Ont., Independent is a nickel exploration company.

Feldman Mall stock dips

A day after announcing a $50 million convertible preferred stock deal, Feldman Mall Properties, Inc.'s stock ended the day down almost 1.8%.

The stock fell 1.78%, or 22 cents, to close at $12.12 (NYSE: FMP). The stock slipped 13 cents on Monday to settle at $12.34.

Volume picked back up on Tuesday with 40,000 shares traded compared with the average 42,185 shares. On Monday, just 27,000 shares were traded.

In the placement, Inland American Real Estate Trust, Inc. agreed to buy up to $50 million in 6.85% series A convertible preferred stock over the next year.

The shares are convertible into common stock at $14.10 per share, pending shareholder approval.

Feldman said it plans use the proceeds to redevelop the company's mall assets and to repay borrowings under a current credit line. The rest will be used for general corporate purposes.

Friedman, Billings, Ramsey & Co., Inc. was the placement agent for the offering.

With headquarters in Great Neck, N.Y., Feldman Mall Properties is a real estate investment trust that acquires, owns and operates regional shopping malls.

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