Sino-Forest secures C$237.9 million from stock offering; Bookham to close $28.6 million PIPE

By Sheri Kasprzak

New York, March 23 - Sino-Forest Corp. led PIPE news on Friday announcing plans to wrap a C$237.9 million stock offering.

The deal sent the company's stock up 32 cents to close at C$11.88 (Toronto: TRE).

In the placement, a group of investors led by Temasek Holdings and United Capital Investments Group agreed to buy 26 million shares at C$9.15 each, a 20.8% discount to the company's C$11.59 closing stock price on Thursday.

The placement makes up 16% of the company's diluted total outstanding shares and was conducted as part of its acquisition of 200,000 hectares of non-state owned commercial standing timber in the People's Republic of China from Gengma Dai and Wa Trees Autonomous Region Forestry Co. Ltd.

"This placement brings in new strategic investors with significant investments in the PRC," said Allen Chan, the company's chief executive officer, in a news release. "The US$200 million raised together with the Yunnan agreement [to buy the 200,000 hectares] will allow us to commit and execute our long-term sustainable forestry program.

"The operating model in Yunnan would be similar to the one in Hunan where we will harvest, replant or regenerate secondary forest to converse bio-diversity and to develop value-added processing facilities by maximizing the value of the wood fiber. It will also bring sustained economic benefits to local communities."

Toronto-based Sino-Forest is a commercial forestry plantation operator in China.

Meanwhile, in the broader market, a sellsider said improved stocks have made the market a more palatable place to be.

"Issuers are gaining confidence, I think," he said. "Stocks are better so they're more willing to raise capital now in this market. It's a lot harder when stocks are off, but it's getting better. We'll see what happens next week though."

Bookham stock falls on deal

Elsewhere in the PIPE market Friday, Bookham, Inc. said it plans to close a $28.6 million private placement of stock.

The offering sent the company's stock down early, with it sliding 10.21%, or 24 cents, by 9:30 a.m. ET. The stock went on to lose 6.81%, or 16 cents, to close at $2.19 and gave up another 2 cents in after-hours trading activity (Nasdaq: BKHM).

In the placement, a group of investors agreed to buy 13,640,224 shares. The price per share could not be ascertained on Friday.

The investors also will receive warrants for 4,092,066 shares, exercisable at $2.80 each for five years.

Burnham Hill Partners was the placement agent.

Based in San Jose, Calif., Bookham develops optical products used to separate light signals for use in communications networks.

IsoRay raises $16.5 million

In the biotech sector, IsoRay, Inc. sealed a $16.522 million stock deal, selling 4,130,500 shares at $4.00 apiece to a group of institutions.

The investors also received warrants for one share for every five shares purchased. The warrants are exercisable at $5.00 each for four years.

The shares were sold under the company's shelf registration.

Punk, Zeiegel & Co. LP and Maxim Group LLC were the placement agents.

The company's stock fell 11.11%, or 50 cents, to close at $4.00 Friday (OTCBB: ISRY).

IsoRay, based in Richland, Wash., develops brachytherapy seeds to treat prostate cancer.

Searchlight closes deal

In the natural resources sector, Searchlight Minerals Corp. came away with $6,678,483 from a private placement of 2,226,161 units of one share and one half-share warrant.

The units were sold at $3.00 each, and the whole warrants associated with the deal are exercisable at $4.50 each for two years.

Proceeds will be used for initial construction funding on a precious and base metals recovery facility in Clarkdale, Ariz. The rest will be used for general corporate purposes.

"This additional financing bring to approximately $22 million the total amount of equity capital raised by the company in the past two months," said Ian McNeil, the company's CEO, in a statement. "Along with the recent acquisition of 100% ownership of the Clarkdale Slag Project, we believe these financings place the company in an excellent position to pursue the development of its minerals projects for the benefit of our shareholders. Our goal is to bring the Clarkdale Slag Project into production as soon as possible."

In February, Searchlight closed a $14.708 million offering of units at $3.00 each, and in January, the company sold $1.76 million in units at $45,000 each with the units comprised of 45,000 shares and 45,000 warrants.

The company's stock closed unmoved at $3.60 Friday (OTCBB: SRCH).

Henderson, Nev.-based Searchlight is a mineral exploration company.

Galleon raises C$30 million

Elsewhere in the resources sector, Galleon Energy Inc. wrapped a C$30,000,375 private placement of 1,481,500 flow-through class A shares at C$20.25 apiece.

The offering was sold through a syndicate of underwriters led by GMP Securities LP.

Proceeds will be used for Canadian exploration expenses.

Located in Calgary, Alta, Galleon is an oil and natural gas exploration company. The stock fell a penny on Friday to settle at C$15.93 (Toronto: GO).

The offering comes as oil prices once again climbed, this time rising 59 cents to close at $62.28 per barrel.

Another resources company, Brazauro Resources Corp., closed a C$8.328 million private placement of 9,253,333 units at C$0.90 each.

The units include one share and one half-share warrant with each whole warrant exercisable at C$1.60 through March 22, 2008.

Proceeds will be used for drilling and exploration on the Tocantinzinho and other projects in Brazil.

Houston-based Brazauro is a mineral exploration company. The stock closed unchanged at C$0.84 Friday (TSX Venture: BZO).

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