Tanger gets ready to close $81.27 million direct deal; oil companies respond to higher prices with offerings

By Sheri Kasprzak

New York, Aug. 31 - Tanger Factory Outlet Centers, Inc. led PIPE activity on Wednesday with news that it is wrapping up an $81.27 million direct offering.

The Greensboro, N.C.-based real estate investment trust plans to sell 3 million shares at $27.09 in an offering scheduled to close on Sept. 2. On July 22, the company had 27,695,016 common shares outstanding.

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

Cohen & Steers Capital Management, Inc. is the placement agent.

Frank Marchisello, the company's chief financial officer, did not immediately return requests for comment on the offering Wednesday.

Tanger owns a group of retail outlet centers and plans to use some of the proceeds from this offering to buy the remaining two-thirds of the Charter Oak portfolio, a group of nine factory outlet centers owned by an affiliate of Blackstone Real Estate Advisors.

Financially, Tanger's earnings have decreased slightly from the second quarter of 2004. For the quarter ended June 30, 2005, the company reported net earnings of $3.480 million, down a bit from the $3.745 million the company reported for the same quarter in 2004.

On Wednesday, after the offering was announced in the morning, the company's stock gained $0.44 to end at $27.72.

In the broader PIPE market Wednesday, oil was the sector to be in as energy issuers finally priced offerings in the wake of skyrocketing oil prices.

"It's finally starting to take off," said one market source familiar with the sector. "It may not last since oil is going back down, but there's this kind of delayed reaction. Those issuers who genuinely do have reasons to conduct deals I think have realized their window of opportunity is going to be getting narrower and narrower."

Oil actually closed down $0.87 on Wednesday, settling at $68.94 per barrel after reaching more than $70 per barrel a few times this week. Crude oil prices got knocked down after the federal government agreed to tap its oil reserves in the wake of Hurricane Katrina.

Calgary, Alta.,'s Synenco Energy Inc. led the slate of energy offerings Wednesday, wrapping a C$60,000,500 deal.

The company sold 4,285,750 shares at C$14.00 each through agents TD Securities Inc. and CIBC World Markets Inc.

The proceeds will be used for work at the Northern Lights project.

Synenco is an oil and natural gas exploration company.

Eden raises $9.08 million

Another Canadian oil explorer, Eden Energy Corp. based in Vancouver, B.C., sealed a $9,075,000 convertible note offering with several institutional investors.

The company sold 6% convertible promissory notes. The notes mature on Aug. 25, 2008 and are convertible at $5.00 each.

Eden also issued warrants for 907,500 shares, exercisable at $6.00 each for three years.

H.C. Wainwright & Co., Inc. was the placement agent.

After the deal was announced Wednesday morning, Eden's stock slipped 4.5%, or $0.32, to close at $6.78.

The proceeds will be used for development of the company's projects in Nevada and for working capital.

Richards prices C$10 million offering

Yet another oil company, Richards Oil & Gas Ltd., announced its plans to head to the private placement market with a C$10 million offering of units and flow-through shares.

The deal includes 4 million units at C$0.75 each.

The units consist of one share and one half-share warrant, the whole of which are exercisable at C$1.00 each for one year and C$1.25 each for the remaining six months.

Richards also plans to sell a combination of units at C$0.75 each and flow-through shares at C$1.00 each for proceeds of up to C$7 million.

Octagon Capital Corp. is the placement agent.

The proceeds will be used for exploration and development. The remainder will be used for working capital.

Richards is based in Calgary.

The company's stock closed unchanged at C$0.82 Wednesday.

Viper Powersports raises $18.9 million

Looking away from energy offerings, Viper Powersports Inc. raised $18.9 million from an equity line and common stock offering.

Both investments were made by Cornell Capital Partners, LP.

Under the terms of the standby equity distribution agreement, Cornell will buy shares of Viper at a 4% discount to the current market price with a $500,000 limit on each draw.

Under the stock offering, Cornell bought 1 million shares at $3.90 each.

Bathgate Capital Partners was the placement agent for the stock sale.

The proceeds from the financing round will be used to launch the company's motorcycle product line.

"During 2005, Viper has made great strides in product development, expanding intellectual property assets and now we have gained strong partners in the area of finance," said John Lai, the company's president, in a statement. "This financing provides the opportunity to launch our motorcycle product line and proprietary engines to the marketplace."

Based in Minneapolis, Viper Powersports makes custom motorcycles and associated products.

On Wednesday, the company's stock gained $0.25 to end at $6.75.

Savannah Bancorp raises equity

Funding his company's growth in a timely manner was a key factor in a $12.2 million private placement settled Tuesday by Savannah Bancorp Inc., chief executive officer Mike Odom said in an interview Wednesday.

"We needed to raise additional equity and we chose this [private placement] over a public offering due mainly to timeliness and the costs associated," Odom said.

As previously reported in PIPE Daily, Savannah Bancorp sold 366,148 shares at $30.50 each to unaffiliated investors and 31,125 shares at $33.16 each to affiliated investors. The sale represents almost 10% of the company's outstanding shares, Odom noted.

The location of the investors, Odom said, is also a crucial part of the deal.

"Fifty percent of the total proceeds came from institutional investors; some were increasing their holdings and some were new [investors]," he said. "The balance of the placement was made to individual, accredited investors in the Hilton Head, S.C., area."

Hilton Head is important to the company, Odom mentioned, because the company is in the process of expanding with a new bank, Harbourside Community Bank, on Hilton Head Island.

Based in Savannah, Ga., Savannah Bancorp is a community bank holding company. On Wednesday, the company's stock remained unchanged at $33.50.

Boston Life Sciences stock gains 12%

A day after announcing its plans to raise $12.78 million in a stock sale, Boston Life Sciences Inc.'s stock jumped almost 12.4%.

The company's stock gained $0.26 to close at $2.36 on Wednesday.

On Tuesday when the offering was announced, the company's stock dipped $0.06 to close at $2.10.

The Boston-based pharmaceutical company plans to sell shares at $2.13 each.

Boston Life Sciences is focused on therapeutic products for the central nervous system.

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