Advanced Cell Technology's stock jumps by 53% on PIPE; Foldera raises $4.3 million from stock deal

By Sheri Kasprzak

New York, Aug. 22 - Advanced Cell Technology, Inc. led PIPE action on Tuesday, announcing its plans to raise $11,295,000 in a private placement of senior secured convertible debentures.

The news of the offering sent the company's stock up 53.26%, or 14 cents, to settle at $0.40 (OTCBB: ACTC). The stock had closed unchanged on Monday at $0.261.

"That's certainly a good endorsement," said one sellside market source. "I don't know that much about the company, but that's a pretty substantial move."

The volume of the company's shares traded Tuesday also took off with 239,478 shares traded, compared to an average 93,209 shares.

On Tuesday morning, the company announced its plans to sell three-year debentures, which will be convertible into common shares at a price that will be based upon market conditions.

The investors will also receive warrants, but the strike price of the warrants will be determined at another time.

William Caldwell, the company's chief executive officer, did not return calls for comment on the offering by press time Tuesday.

According to the company's latest earnings statement, Advanced Cell reported a net income of $9,294,610 for the quarter ended June 30, compared to a net loss of $2,477,014 for the corresponding quarter of 2005.

Headquartered in Alameda, Calif., Advanced Cell uses stem cell technology in the field of regenerative medicine.

Foldera's $4.3 million deal

Elsewhere in private placement offerings, Foldera, Inc. settled a $4.3 million private placement of 1,911,111 shares.

The price per share - $2.25 - is a 34% premium to the company's $1.68 closing stock price on Monday.

On Tuesday, the company's stock fell by 2 cents to close at $1.66 (OTCBB: FDRA).

Brookstone Securities Corp. was the placement agent.

"We are pleased to have been selected by Foldera as its placement agent for this equity round," said Neil Dabney, Brookstone's director of mergers and acquisitions. "This constitutes the third placement we have accomplished on behalf of Foldera, as it expands both vertically and horizontally and our investors continue to be attracted by the company's highly scalable business model."

"We sincerely appreciate the vote of confidence expressed by Brookstreet, their member brokers and clients," said Richard Lusk, the company's chief, in a statement. "This funding round will certainly help us accelerate the rollout of Foldera's service."

Located in Huntington Beach, Calif., Foldera provides web-based e-mail, instant messaging and document management services within a web browser.

Sweet Success's $3.3 million deal

Sweet Success Enterprises Inc. wrapped a private placement of 8% convertible debentures for $3.3 million.

The debentures are due August 2008 and are convertible into common shares at the lesser of $5.00 or 75% of the average of the five closing stock prices before conversion.

The accredited investors also received warrants for one class A and one class B warrant for every two shares issuable upon conversion.

The class A warrants are exercisable at $1.00 each and the class B at $1.25 each.

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

"In a short period of time, despite extremely limited access to capital, we have re-launched the Sweet Success brand in a number of target markets," said Bill Gallagher, the company's CEO, in a news release. "With this new financing in place, we now have access to the resources to accelerate marketing and developmental activities to capitalize on the growing demand for the product."

The company's stock edged up by a penny on Tuesday to settle at $0.95 (OTCBB: SWTS).

Sweet Success, based in San Antonio, develops a line of energy drinks.

Horizon North raises C$110.5 million

Leading a rather slow day for Canadian private placements was a C$110.5 million offering closed by Horizon North Logistics Inc.

Stocks in Canada improved on Tuesday as oil prices crept up and one market source said PIPE activity may improve in the coming week.

"I think things will pick up soon because stocks are getting better," he said. "Oil prices are back up again and we'd suffered for a while there when oil prices were off. I think we'll start to see more flow-through deals because we're getting near the latter part of the year and that's generally when [issuers] start scrambling for tax breaks."

Looking at the Horizon North offering, the company sold 34 million subscription receipts at C$3.25 each.

The deal was settled through a syndicate of underwriters led by Peters & Co. Ltd.

Each receipt is exchangeable for one common share once the company concludes its acquisitions of Shanco Camp Services Ltd., Legacy Industrial Camps Inc. and Swamp Mats Inc.

The acquisitions are expected to close by Sept. 30.

The company's stock lost 3 cents on Tuesday to close at C$3.27 (TSX Venture: HNL).

Calgary, Alta.-based Horizon North provides transport services to the oil and natural gas sector.

Inverness's stock drops

Moving to secondary market activity, Inverness Medical Innovations, Inc.'s stock dropped by 4.22% a day after the company announced the imminent completion of a $151.25 million private placement.

The stock slipped by $1.39 to close at $31.55 (Amex: IMA). The company's stock fell by 3.04%, or $1.04, to close at $32.94 on Monday when the offering was first announced.

In the placement, Inverness entered into agreements to sell shares at $30.25 each, an 11% discount to the company's $33.98 closing stock price on Aug. 18.

Based in Waltham, Mass., Inverness develops in vitro diagnostic products and technologies to diagnose heart disease, infectious disease and women's health issues.

© 2015 Prospect News.
All content on this website is protected by copyright law in the U.S. and elsewhere. For the use of the person downloading only.
Redistribution and copying are prohibited by law without written permission in advance from Prospect News.
Redistribution or copying includes e-mailing, printing multiple copies or any other form of reproduction.