Duquesne Light wraps $141.38 million stock sale; Peat Resource prices C$3.5 million PIPE

By Sheri Kasprzak

New York, Aug. 11 - Duquesne Light Holdings, Inc. wrapped a $141,379,712 private placement to finish what sellsiders said Friday was a rather rocky week for PIPE volume.

In the offering, Duquesne sold 8,836,232 shares at $16.00 each, a 17.8% discount to the company's closing stock price of $19.46 on Thursday.

Duet Investment Holdings Ltd. bought 6,818,827 of the shares, and Industry Fund Management (Nominee) Ltd. bought the remaining 2,017,405 shares.

The company's stock dipped by a penny on Friday to settle at $19.45 (NYSE: DQE).

The offering closed just days after the company released its second-quarter earnings report. On Wednesday, the company reported adjusted earnings of $23.1 million for the quarter, compared with $23.3 million for the same quarter of 2005.

In other news, Duquesne announced back in July that it will merge with a consortium led by Macquarie Infrastructure Partners and Diversified Utility and Energy Trusts (Duet). The Macquarie-led consortium has agreed to acquire all of the outstanding shares of Duquesne at $20.00 per share in cash.

Pittsburgh-based Duquesne transmits and distributes electricity.

In the broader market Friday, sellsiders said activity all week has been in a slump bred not only out of volatile stocks and shaky oil prices but also out of earnings season and summer vacations.

One market source based in New York said Fridays in the summer are often slower than usual.

"Do people actually work during the summer," he joked. "Seriously, you've got earnings, which are keeping [issuers] from doing things, and you've got people away. I speculate things will pick up come September, and once they do, you can expect pretty significant volume until the end of the year."

The sectors that are most likely to pick up, he said, are biotechnology, technology and - if oil prices continue to climb - alternative energy.

"We're even seeing a lot of the alternative energy companies out there now," he noted. "I believe it will pick up more and more. Investors seem to be really interested in these [companies] as oil gets higher and higher."

Another market source, based in Vancouver, B.C., said Friday afternoon that he also believes summer is just a slower time of year than normal.

"For us [Canadians], we have a lot of things [issuers] are looking at, in terms of oil prices, stocks, commodities," he said. "Commodities seem to be doing OK and that's sort of our backbone. Oil, of course, is all over the place, but other commodities seem to be doing all right."

Peat plans C$3.5 million deal

Looking to a slightly more active Canadian PIPE market on Friday, Peat Resources Ltd. priced a C$3.5 million offering.

RAB Special Situations (Master) Fund Ltd. plans to buy 9 million units at C$0.20 each and 8.5 million special warrants at C$0.20 each.

The units consist of one share and one warrant, each of which is exercisable at C$0.30 for two years.

The special warrants will automatically convert into units once a prospectus covering the underlying shares is filed.

Placement agent IBK Capital Corp. has a greenshoe for up to 2.5 million additional units.

Proceeds will be used to design and operate a pilot plant leading up to an engineering feasibility report and production of peat fuel for marketing purposes. The rest will be used to complete the evaluation of peat properties in Canada and to provide additional working capital.

The stock closed Friday unchanged at C$0.25 (TSX Venture: PET).

Toronto-based Peat Resources operates technologies to turn peat into an alternative energy source.

In other Canadian resources offerings, Pure Gold Minerals Inc. completed its previously announced C$8.5 million private placement for C$3,619,320.

The company issued 52,145,000 flow-through shares at C$0.06 each and 8,177,000 units at C$0.06 each.

The units are comprised of one share and one half-share warrant. The whole warrants allow for the purchase of another share at C$0.09 apiece for 18 months.

The offering priced June 14 as an C$8.4 million offering.

Pacific International Securities Inc. was the placement agent.

Proceeds will be used for exploration and development on the High Arctic property held by De Beers Canada Inc. In its agreement with De Beers, Pure Gold may earn up to an 85% working interest in the property.

Separately, Pure Gold raised another C$184,000 in a non-brokered placement after selling 350,000 flow-through shares at C$0.06 each and 2,716,668 units at the same price.

Also, the company closed a C$600,000 placement with De Beers Canada Inc.

The company also completed a rights offering.

"The closing of the private placements and the rights offering totaling in excess of C$5 million represents a further milestone for Pure Gold as they assure the corporation's ongoing participation in the High Arctic program with De Beers, one of the most significant agreements that Pure Gold has ever concluded," said Pure Gold president Gordon Keevil in a news release.

Vancouver, B.C.-based Pure Gold is a gold and diamond exploration company.

Cytori stock slips

Moving to the biotech sector, Cytori Therapeutics, Inc. watched its stock slide on Friday after announcing a private placement for $16,779,966.

The stock fell by 6 cents, or 1.05%, to end at $5.63 (Nasdaq: CYTX). The company's stock also lost 6 cents on Thursday when the deal was announced to close at $5.69.

Volume of the company's shares traded increased on Friday, with 30,887 shares traded compared to the average 13,723 shares.

In the Cytori deal, the company plans to issue shares at $5.75 each to a group of institutional investors led by Olympus Corp.

Piper Jaffray & Co. was the placement agent for the offering, set to close within 30 days.

San Diego-based Cytori develops cell-based therapeutics using adult stem cell and regenerative cells derived from adipose tissue to treat cardiovascular disease, gastrointestinal disorders and other ailments.

Vical stock edges down

In other biotech news, Vical Inc.'s stock dipped by 0.8% Friday after settling a $9,779,830 direct placement of its stock.

Vical's stock dropped by 4 cents to close at $4.93 (Nasdaq: VICL). The company's stock gained 24 cents, or 5.07%, to settle at $4.97 on Thursday when the placement closed.

In the offering, the company sold shares at $4.77 each.

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

Proceeds will be used for ongoing programs and for general corporate purposes.

Vical, also based in San Diego, develops DNA-based vaccines for infectious diseases and cancer.

© 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.