Acacia Research to close $10.53 million direct deal; Advanced Cell raises $17.75 million

By Sheri Kasprzak

New York, Sept. 16 - In a week filled with biotechnology and biotech-related PIPE offerings, Acacia Research Corp. announced Friday that it is about to seal a $10,536,746 direct offering of shares from its biotech subsidiary CombiMatrix Corp.

The Newport Beach, Calif., holding company will issue 6,385,907 shares of its Acacia Research-CombiMatrix stock at $1.65 each on Sept. 21.

After the impending settlement was announced Friday morning, Acacia Research-CombiMatrix's stock plummeted 17.68%, or $0.35, to finish at $1.63.

The price per share is a 16.7% discount to the company's closing stock price of $1.98 on Sept. 15.

As of Aug. 3, there were 32,606,495 shares of Acacia Research-CombiMatrix common stock outstanding.

The investors will also receive warrants for 1,596,478 shares, exercisable at $2.40 each for five years.

The shares will be issued under Acacia's shelf registration.

Piper Jaffray & Co. was the placement agent.

CombiMatrix chief executive officer Amit Kumar did not return requests for comment by press time Friday.

Acacia conducted two direct placements earlier this year - one for CombiMatrix and one for Acacia Technologies, its biochip technology arm.

The first, for CombiMatrix, included the sale of 1,300,444 shares at $2.25 each for proceeds of $2,925,999. The second, for Acacia Technologies, was comprised of 3.5 million shares at $5.60 each.

The company's net losses have increased over the second quarter of 2004.

For the quarter ended June 30, 2005, the company sustained a net loss of $5,417,000, up from a net loss of $4,565,000 for the corresponding quarter in 2004.

CombiMatrix develops technologies to determine roles of genes, gene mutations and proteins for use in the biotechnology sector.

Moving to another biotech company, Advanced Cell Technology, Inc. wrapped a $17.75 million convertible note offering Friday.

The notes are convertible into a total of 9,672,925 common shares at $2.30 each. The full details of the notes could not be determined Friday evening.

The investors also received warrants for 4,836,462 shares, exercisable at $2.53 each for five years.

Advanced Cell's stock climbed 11.36%, or $0.25, to end the day at $2.45 after the closing was announced Friday morning.

T.R. Winston & Co. was the placement agent for the offering.

Proceeds will be used to accelerate the company's research and development of human embryonic stem cell technology and stem cell therapies. The rest will be used for general corporate purposes.

Advanced Cell's net losses, according to its latest earnings report, have more than tripled over the year.

For the second quarter of 2005, the company suffered a net loss of $2,477,014, up significantly from the $728,262 net loss reported for the same quarter of 2004.

The jump in net losses was contributed to an increase in general and administrative expenses, offset in part, the earnings statement said, by an increase in interest income and gains on the settlement of debt.

Based in Worcester, Mass., Advanced Cell Technology is focused on stem cell research and regenerative medicine.

Atari raises $7.41 million

Eighties gaming icon Atari, Inc. closed a $7,413,367 private placement with two institutional investors, the company announced Friday.

The New York-based video game developer sold 5,702,590 shares at $1.30 each to Sark Master Fund Ltd. and CCM Master Qualified Fund, Ltd.

Atari had 121,331,717 common shares outstanding as of Aug. 5.

Morgan Joseph & Co. was the placement agent.

Atari's stock slipped a penny to close at $1.35 Friday and lost another nickel in after-hours trading.

Financially, Atari has recovered from some substantial net losses sustained in the second quarter of 2004.

For the quarter ended June 30, 2005, the company reported net earnings of $12,056,000, up from a net loss of $32,817,000 sustained in the second quarter of 2004.

Endeavour prices, upsizes offering

Heading north of the border, Vancouver, B.C.'s Endeavour Silver Corp. took advantage of climbing silver prices and arranged a C$14.4 million unit offering Friday.

The company first planned to raise just C$9.6 million but later increased the deal to the present size.

The company will sell 6 million units at C$2.40 each.

The units are composed of one share and one half-share warrant. The whole warrants allow for the purchase of another share at C$2.90 each for two years.

A syndicate of underwriters led by Salman Partners Inc. has an over-allotment option for up to 800,000 additional units.

The deal is scheduled to close Oct. 5.

Proceeds will be used for exploration, development and expansion of the company's Mexico silver properties. The rest will be used for working capital and more acquisitions.

On Friday, the company's stock gained C$0.02 to close at C$2.43.

Said one market source familiar with natural resources stocks, silver prices are climbing right along with gold - which has been on the rise for most of the week.

"Gold companies that also do silver will likely price this coming week," he said. "It's rare when you find a company that just does silver, like this one [Endeavour], so we're more likely to see issuers that do both gold and silver. Both [gold and silver] are doing extraordinarily well. As for this one [the Endeavour offering], it seems to be right in line to me."

Spectrum Pharma stock edges up

Pharmaceutical company Spectrum Pharmaceuticals, Inc.'s stock made slight gains on Friday after announcing its plans to close a $42 million direct deal.

The company's stock ended up $0.02 at $5.25 Friday.

On Thursday, when the offering was announced, the company's stock gained $0.03, or 0.58%, to close at $5.23.

The Irvine, Calif.-based pharmaceutical company will sell shares at $5.25 each.

The shares will be sold under Spectrum's shelf registration.

Proceeds will be used for general corporate purposes.

Spectrum acquires, develops and commercializes prescription drug products to treat cancer and other diseases.

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