American Real Estate Partners secures $200 million from notes; TXP raises $5 million

By Sheri Kasprzak

New York, April 5 - American Real Estate Partners, LP grabbed PIPE headlines on Thursday to close the short week ahead of Good Friday with a $200 million offering of variable-rate senior convertible notes.

The notes bear interest at Libor minus 125 basis points with a 4% floor and a 5.5% ceiling and are due 2013. The notes are convertible into depositary units at $132.595 each.

Portside Growth and Opportunity Fund; a fund managed by Ramius Capital Group, LLC; and a fund managed by Highbridge Capital Management, LLC bought the notes and have the option to buy another $400 million of the notes before April 13.

The offering was set to close Thursday.

The company's stock gained $1.29 to end at $116.59 (NYSE: ACP).

Based in New York, American Real Estate Partners is a holding company for real estate, gaming and home fashions industries.

Meanwhile, in the broader market, stocks made meager gains, making for light activity.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 30.15 to close at 12,560.20, and the Nasdaq composite index climbed 12.65 to settle at 2,471.34. The Standard & Poor's 500 composite index closed up 4.39 at 1,443.76.

TXP wraps $5 million deal

In other offerings Thursday, TXP Corp. pocketed $5 million from a private placement of 6% convertible notes with Cornell Capital Partners, LP.

News of the deal sent the company's stock sliding 22.86%, or 8 cents, to end at $0.27 (OTCBB: TXPO).

The three-year notes are convertible into common shares at $0.41 each.

Cornell also received warrants for 1 million shares, exercisable at $0.60 each for five years; warrants for 1 million shares, exercisable at $0.75 each for five years; warrants for 750,000 shares, exercisable at $0.85 each for five years; and warrants for 600,000 shares, exercisable at $1.00 each for five years.

TXP provides pre-manufacturing services to the electronics industry. The company has headquarters in Richardson, Texas.

First Nickel prices C$15 million PIPE

Moving north of the border, First Nickel Inc. negotiated the terms of a C$15,000,025 offering of stock.

The deal includes up to 13,043,500 shares at C$1.15 each.

The offering is being placed through a syndicate of underwriters led by Desjardins Securities Inc. The syndicate has a greenshoe for up to 1,956,500 additional shares.

The placement is expected to close April 24.

Proceeds will be used for debt repayment and for working capital.

On Thursday, the company's stock gained 9 cents, or 7.63%, to close at C$1.27 (Toronto: FNI). Volume was up with 8,045,561 shares traded compared with the average 2,443,600 shares.

Toronto-based First Nickel is a mineral exploration company.

Petro raises $2 million

In another resources deal, Petro Resources Corp. closed a private placement of series A convertible preferred stock for $2 million.

The 10% preferreds are convertible into common shares at $0.67 each.

The preferreds were sold to two funds managed by Touradji Capital Management, LP.

Also, Touradji returned 1,537,800 shares of common stock with a value of $4,613,400 for cancellation and returned 160,000 warrants for cancellation.

The stock lost 4 cents to end at $3.05 on Thursday (Amex: PRC).

Petro Resources, based in Houston, is an oil and natural gas exploration, production and acquisition company.

Enterra stock drops

Looking to secondary market news connected to the energy sector, Enterra Energy Trust saw its stock fall on Thursday after pricing two offerings totaling C$65.37 million.

The stock fell by a nickel to end at C$5.89 Thursday (Toronto: ENT). On Wednesday, the stock slipped 3.88%, or 24 cents, to close at C$5.94.

Volume remained elevated on Thursday with 113,428 shares traded compared with the average 63,072 shares.

In one of its offerings, the company plans to sell C$40 million in principal of unsecured subordinated convertible debentures. The 8.25% debentures are due June 30, 2012 and are convertible at C$6.80 each.

The company also plans to sell trust units at C$5.90 each. The underwriters in the deal have a greenshoe for up to 645,000 additional trust units.

The offering is set to close April 25.

Enterra, based in Calgary, Alta., is an oil and natural gas trust that acquires and operates petroleum and natural gas assets in Alberta and British Columbia.

Coda Octopus stock up 20%

In other secondary market news, Coda Octopus Group, Inc.'s stock gained more than 20% on Thursday after the company announced the completion of a $13.255 million unit deal.

The stock advanced by 25 cents to close at $1.49 (Pink Sheets: CDOC). The stock closed up 6 cents, or 5.08%, on Wednesday at $1.24.

On Wednesday, the company issued units of one share and two warrants for one half-share each at $1.00 apiece.

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

Proceeds will be used for working capital and for the redemption of 18,181 units of Vision Capital's series B preferred stock for $110 each.

New York-based Coda Octopus is an underwater port security technology developer.

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