Cheniere raises $250 million; Synchronica gets £5.08 million from stock; Novelos pockets $3 million

By Devika Patel

Knoxville, Tenn., Aug. 18 - Cheniere Energy, Inc. said it completed a $250 million private placement of a convertible loan, which will be used to repay a prior bridge loan issued in May.

Separately, Synchronica plc said it will raise £5.08 million in a stock sale.

And Novelos Therapeutics, Inc. took in $3 million from a private placement of shares.

Cheniere: $250 million

Cheniere Energy announced that funds led by GSO Capital Partners LP and its affiliates raised $250 million through a convertible loan.

The Houston-based energy company said the proceeds will be used primarily to pay off a $95 million May 2008 bridge loan. The remainder of the proceeds will be used to fund a reserve account for payments under Cheniere Marketing, Inc.'s Terminal Use Agreement with the Sabine Pass LNG receiving terminal and for general corporate purposes.

The loan matures Aug. 15, 2018. It bears interest at 12%.

The loan may be exchanged into series B preferred stock. The exchange ratio is one preferred for each $5,000, subject to adjustment. The preferred stock is exchangeable into 50 million common shares at a conversion price of $5.00 per share.

Interest is payable on the last business day of each January and July, the maturity date, the date of repayment or prepayment and the conversion date.

Scorpion Capital Partners LP invested $8.5 million.

The Bank of New York Mellon is the administrative agent and collateral agent.

"We believe that this capital investment, combined with our recent restructuring and significant reduction of annual expenses, will provide us with sufficient liquidity to operate our business for a minimum of three years, whether or not we are successful in our plan of securing cargoes or additional third-party long-term terminal use agreements," chairman, chief executive officer and president Charif Souki said in a press release.

"Through our strategic options process, we have identified GSO as the ideal partner to provide the company with additional liquidity and operating flexibility. GSO is a long-term investor committed to our company's success and we look forward to returning our focus to our business plan of maximizing the value of the 2.0 Bcf/d of regasification capacity held at the Sabine Pass terminal," Souki concluded.

"Cheniere owns and operates world-class assets in both the Sabine Pass Terminal and Creole Trail Pipeline, and our investment is designed to provide the company with needed time to realize the value of those assets for its shareholders," GSO managing director Dwight Scott added in the release.

The company's shares (Amex: LNG) fell 2.66%, or 13 cents, to close at $4.76 on Monday.

Synchronica sees £5.08 million

Tunbridge Wells, England-based Synchronica said it will sell 169,466,399 ordinary shares at 3p per share.

Proceeds of the £5.08 million deal will be used to finance the company's planned acquisition of the operating subsidiary of its competitor, AxisMobile plc.

"The fundraising and the acquisition of AxisMobile is a dramatic acceleration for Synchronica and I believe that it will build value for our shareholders," Synchronica chief executive officer Carsten Brinkschulte said in a news release.

"We aim to build a world-leader in the market of consumer mobile e-mail and synchronization solutions, and this acquisition is a key milestone, which will improve our competitive positioning and accelerate our commercial growth.

Synchronica said the acquisition would increase the company's ability to sell to customers, particularly to those in emerging economies, where it anticipates "the largest potential growth for mobile e-mail and synchronization."

Synchronica develops technologies to synchronize and manage mobile e-mail products. The company's shares (London: SYNC) dropped 2.73%, or 0.12p, closing at 4.45p on Monday.

Novelos wraps $3 million

Novelos Therapeutics, a biopharmaceutical company focused on the development of therapeutics to treat cancer and hepatitis, raised $3 million in a private placement, which settled Thursday.

The Newton, Mass.-based company sold 4,615,384 common shares at $0.65 per share to two investors.

"We are pleased with this financing, which will fund our current development programs into year-end," Novelos president and chief executive officer Harry Palmin said in a press release. "We continue to pursue our ex-U.S. partnering initiative and other funding options.

"We recently demonstrated positive results with NOV-002 in two phase 2 trials in ovarian and breast cancers, and our scientific progress was recognized in two peer reviewed publications. We expect detailed interim results of a phase 2 breast cancer trial in December 2008, and we expect our pivotal, fully enrolled, 840-patient phase 3 lung cancer trial to conclude in mid-2009."

The company's shares (OTCBB: NVLT) were unchanged at $0.52 on Monday.

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