Hardy Oil and Gas announces £21 million placement; Dynamite plans C$40 million deal

By Laura Lutz

Des Moines, May 25 - Hardy Oil and Gas plc led PIPEs news on Friday with a private placement for up to £21 million.

The company arranged an offering of 4,964,540 ordinary shares at 423p each.

Arden Partners plc is the agent for the deal.

The London-based oil and gas company said it would use the proceeds for working capital.

"We are encouraged by the strong support from our investors," chief executive Sastry Karra said in a news release.

"The placing will enable us to continue to move forward with the appraisal of our discoveries and further exploration of our asset portfolio."

The company's shares gained 16.25p, or 3.64%, to close at 462.25p on Friday (London: HDY).

Moving to Canada, Dynamite Resources announced a C$20 million private placement on Friday before upsizing the deal to C$45 million later in the morning.

After the increase, the company plans to sell 56.25 million subscription receipts at C$0.80 each.

Ultimately, each subscription receipt will be exchanged for one share and one warrant of Dynamite, assuming settlement of the company's planned acquisition of Tau Mining Ltd.

The subscription receipts will initially become exchangeable immediately prior to the acquisition. For each subscription receipt, investors will receive one share and one warrant of Dynamite Finance Inc., a new subsidiary of Dynamite Resources.

At the time of the acquisition, each share or warrant of Dynamite Finance will be exchanged for one share or warrant, respectively, of Dynamite Resources. Each whole Dynamite warrant will be exercisable at C$1.00 for two years

Orion Securities Inc. is the lead underwriter for a syndicate that also includes GMP Securities LP and Cormark Securities Inc.

Settlement is expected on June 14.

The Toronto-based mining company plans to use proceeds of the placement for the acquisition and for exploration on both the company's current properties and Tau's properties.

This is not the company's first experience with the PIPEs market. Dynamite raised C$1.3 million from a private placement of units in April 2006.

Dynamite's shares closed up 2 cents, or 2.6%, at C$0.79 (TSX Venture: DNR).

Excelsior prices C$20 million offering

Dynamite was one of several Canadian resource companies announcing private placements on Friday.

Among the others was Excelsior Energy Ltd., which plans to conduct a private placement of units and flow-through shares for up to C$20 million.

The company plans to sell units at C$0.85 each as well as up to 7,619,048 flow-through shares at C$1.05 each.

Each unit will consist of one non flow-through share and one warrant. Each warrant will be exchangeable for one share at no additional cost if the company's common shares are not listed for trading on the TSX Venture Exchange within 120 days from settlement of the private placement.

The company is currently listed on the CNQ exchange.

Canaccord Capital Corp. is the lead agent with Orion Securities Inc. as co-agent. The deal is expected to settle on June 21.

Calgary, Alta.-based Excelsior said it would use the proceeds for exploration and development at its oil and gas properties in northern Alberta and internationally as well as for general corporate purposes.

Excelsior previously conducted a private placement for C$43.5 million in August 2006.

The company's shares dropped 7 cents, or 6.54%, to end Friday at C$1.00 (CNQ: EXEL).

Candente to raise C$15 million

In other Canadian news, Candente Resource Corp. priced two private placements of units for a total of C$15 million.

Both offerings will consist of common shares at C$1.30.

The C$9 million offering had previously been announced on May 14, but pricing had not been set. Although it had been expected to include both shares and units, the placement will only involve shares.

A syndicate led by Westwind Partners Inc. and including Raymond James Ltd. will act as agents for the C$9 million deal.

Credibolsa SAB SA, Candente's sponsor in Peru, will act as agent for the C$6 million offering.

Both placements are part of a larger global offering of common shares. The size of the larger deal is capped at 25% of Candente's issued shares immediately before closing. Settlement of the global offering is expected on June 7.

Candente is a copper and gold exploration company based in Vancouver, B.C. It plans to use the proceeds for exploration and development and for general corporate purposes.

The company also undertook private placements for C$3.75 million in November 2006; C$4,573,036 in April 2006; and C$3.725 million in April 2005.

Its shares gained 2 cents, or 1.45%, to close at C$1.40 on Friday (Toronto: DNT).

Avalon to sell $20 million of stock

As is common, U.S. biotechnology companies also weighed in with several deals.

Avalon Pharmaceuticals, Inc. announced a private placement of stock for up to $20 million.

The placement is expected to include up to 3,838,772 shares at $5.21 each and warrants for 959,693 additional shares. Each warrant will be exercisable at $6.00 for five years.

The deal was announced on Friday morning and was expected to settle later in the day.

Based in Germantown, Md., Avalon searches for new drugs by monitoring changes in gene expression. The company is currently focused on cancer medicines.

Avalon has recent experience with the PIPEs market with a $10.02 million private placement of stock in January as well as a $7.25 million stock placement in February 2006.

Its stock ended Friday up 16 cents, or 3.09%, at $5.33 (Nasdaq: AVRX).

BioSante plans $15.53 million sale

Another biotechnology company, BioSante Pharmaceuticals, Inc., secured $16,529,994 from a private placement of stock.

The company entered into agreements to sell 2,754,999 common shares at $6.00 each along with warrants for another 688,750 shares. The warrants are exercisable at $8.00 per share for three years beginning six months after issuance.

Rodman & Renshaw, LLC is the lead agent with Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. as co-agent.

The offer is expected to settle upon approval of an additional listing application with the American Stock Exchange.

"We are pleased with this private placement, and are gratified to welcome new institutional investors to BioSante," Stephen M Simes, BioSante's president and chief executive officer, said in a news release.

"We limited the private placement to the amount raised to minimize dilution to our existing stockholders, while adding to our cash balance."

Lincolnshire, Ill.-based BioSante focuses on hormone therapies. The company said it would use the proceeds to expand a phase III clinical program for its LibiGel product.

The company previously raised $7,625,956 from a private placement of stock in July 2006.

The stock lost 35.12 cents, or 5.13%, to close at $6.4988 on Friday (Amex: BPA).

Summit Global pockets $15 million

In other American news, Summit Global Logistics, Inc. wrapped a $15 million private placement of senior secured convertible notes on May 21, according to an 8-K filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

The notes are due May 21, 2012. They will pay interest at Libor plus an applicable margin that is currently set at 450 basis points.

The notes are convertible at an initial conversion price of $5.50 per share.

The company many redeem the notes beginning on May 21, 2010 if the closing price of the company's stock is more than 180% of the conversion price for 20 consecutive trading days.

Investors also received warrants for up to 50% of the number of shares issuable upon conversion of the notes. The warrants are exercisable at $5.50 per share until Nov. 8, 2011.

The Kenilworth, N.J.-based logistics company plans to use the proceeds for working capital.

The placement was conducted alongside restructuring of the company's credit facilities.

In November, the company raised $163 million from financings, including $65 million of convertible notes and $33 million of stock with warrants, related to its merger with Maritime Holdings US Logistics Inc.

Summit's stock fell $10.00, or 40%, to finish Friday at $15.00 (OTCBB: SGLT).

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