Inovio secures $16.17 million from stock offering; Concurrent to close $14 million deal

By Sheri Kasprzak

New York, May 16 - Once again, health care and technology names dominated PIPE activity on Wednesday.

"Those are the two big sectors normally," said one market source familiar with both tech and biotech companies. "It makes sense that these are the two [sectors] you see most of the offerings in."

In the broader market, the Dow Jones Industrial Average again hit a record high, gaining 103.69 to close at 13,487.53. The Nasdaq composite index climbed 22.13 to settle at 2,547.42, and the Standard & Poor's 500 composite index ended the day up 12.95 at 1,514.14.

Heading up offerings on Wednesday was a $16,174,730 direct placement from Inovio Biomedical Corp.

The company secured agreement from institutional and accredited investors in Singapore and North America for 4,595,094 shares at $3.52 each.

The share price is a 5.8% discount to the company's $3.74 closing stock price on Monday.

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

Proceeds will be used for clinical trials, research and development, manufacturing costs, potential acquisitions of companies and technologies, as well as for working capital and general corporate purposes.

Inovio's stock gave up 9 cents, or 2.43%, to end at $3.61 on Wednesday (Amex: INO).

San Diego-based Inovio develops genetic vaccines for infections and cancers.

Modigene stock falls

In other health care-related news, Modigene, Inc.'s stock dipped on Wednesday, a day after the company completed a $9.63 million private placement.

The stock fell 4 cents, or 1.52%, to settle at $2.59 (OTCBB: MODG).

In the placement, the company sold shares at $1.50 each to a group of individual investors that included Phillip Frost, Jane Hsiao, Steve Rubin and Rao Uppaluri, as well as Perceptive Life Sciences Master Fund.

The investors received warrants exercisable at $2.50 each for five years.

Located in Vienna, Va., Modigene develops long-acting versions of approved therapeutic proteins

Concurrent's $14 million deal

Moving to the tech sector, Concurrent Computer Corp. said it plans to close a $14 million offering of stock at $1.25 per share.

News of the offering sent the company's stock up 11.54%, or 15 cents, to close at $1.45 (Nasdaq: CCUR). The stock gained another 5 cents in after-hours trading.

The company plans to sell 11.2 million shares to a group of accredited investors who will also receive warrants for 2.8 million shares. The warrants are exercisable at $1.62 each.

Proceeds will be used for working capital and capital expenditures.

Atlanta-based Concurrent provides on-demand technology and real-time computing technology.

Aura raises $5.6 million

Elsewhere in the tech sector, Aura Systems, Inc. closed a $5.6 million offering of 6,153,846 units at $0.91 each.

News of the offering sent the company's stock up almost 3%, or 4 cents, to close the session at $1.38 (Pink Sheets: AUSI).

The units included one share and one warrant for two-tenths of a share. Each full warrant allows for the purchase of an additional share at $3.00 for the first year, at $3.50 for the second year and at $4.00 for the remaining three years.

"The good news is that the interest in the AuraGen/Viper is significantly expanding with exciting customers and new customers in both commercial and military sectors, as well as numerous truck and marine original equipment manufacturers," said Melvin Gagerman, the company's chief executive officer, in a news release.

"This growth however is challenging all parts of the operation. We are currently expanding our assembly and testing capabilities, our engineering staff, our interface mounting kit development and manufacturing operation, and our support staff. This recent private placement provides us capital to address these needs."

Based in El Segundo, Calif., Aura Systems develops power-generation systems.

Lithium closes offering

In another recent tech deal, Lithium Technology Corp. closed a $2.035 million offering of series C convertible preferred stock.

The company sold 13,566.67 shares of the preferred stock at $150.00 each.

The preferreds are convertible on the basis of 2,500 common shares for every preferred at a price of $0.06 each.

On Wednesday, the stock fell six-tenths of a cent to close at $0.078 (Pink Sheets: LTHU).

Plymouth Meeting, Pa.-based Lithium develops rechargeable lithium batteries used in notebook computers and cell phones.

Arcadia secures $4.03 million

Elsewhere in PIPE news, Arcadia Resources, Inc. announced plans to close a $4.025 million private placement with Potomac Capital Management Inc.

In the deal, Potomac plans to buy 3,382,353 shares at $1.19 each. The investor also will receive warrants for 845,588 shares, exercisable at $1.75 each.

"We are gratified by this new investment on the part of an existing Arcadia shareholder, which represents a strong vote of confidence in our growth strategy to build upon the opportunities we see in the alternate site health care marketplace," said John E. Elliott II, the company's CEO, in a statement.

Proceeds will be used to repay existing debt.

The company's stock lost 4 cents on Wednesday to end at $1.29 (Amex: KAD).

Based in Southfield, Mich., Arcadia provides alternate site health care services and products.

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