Introgen arranges $20 million direct stock deal; retreating oil, improved stocks help PIPE volume

By Sheri Kasprzak

New York, Nov. 4 - Introgen Therapeutics Inc. led PIPE news to finish out the week, pricing a $20 million direct placement with Colgate-Palmolive Co.

Introgen plans to sell to Colgate-Palmolive 3,610,760 shares at $5.539 each, a price equal to the company's closing stock price on Nov. 3.

As of Aug. 8, the company had 33,322,798 outstanding shares.

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

The deal is being conducted as part of the two companies' collaboration, announced Friday, to develop therapies for oral cancer and pre-cancerous conditions of the mouth.

The direct offering and the alliance boosted Introgen's stock. The stock gained $0.42, or 7.6%, to close at $5.96 Friday.

The company conducted a similar offering for $24.3 million in December 2004, selling shares at $6.94 each to two European investors.

Looking to Introgen's earnings, the company reported a net loss of $7,551,000 for the quarter ended June 30, compared to a net loss of $7,061,000 for the same quarter of 2004.

"We have not yet generated any significant revenues from unaffiliated third parties, nor is there any assurance of future product revenues," said the company's latest earnings report.

"Presently, we earn minimal revenues from contract services activities, grants, interest income and rent from the lease of a portion of our facilities to the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center. We do not expect to generate revenues from the commercial sale of products in the near future. We may never generate revenues from the commercial sale of products."

Based in Austin, Texas, Introgen develops treatments for cancer and other diseases.

In the broader PIPE market Friday, sellsiders said a slump in oil prices and a slow improvement for the major stock indexes helped boost PIPE issuance somewhat with smaller deals making up the majority of the offerings.

"There are loads of small deals coming out," said one market source. "We're not seeing many big things, but the volume of smaller deals could be a sign of things to come next week."

Another sellsider said that some bigger deals may have been held back by mixed stocks that eventually improved as the day went on.

"It was really mixed there for the better part of the day before they [the indexes] got their act together," he said. "Oil seems to be helping us."

Oil prices slipped $1.20 to close at $60.58 on Friday as warmer fall weather eased worries over heating oil supplies.

The major stock indexes improved by the end of the day Friday after staying mixed for most of the session. The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 8.17 to end at 10,530.76; the Nasdaq composite index advanced 9.21 to close at 2,169.43 and the Standard & Poor's 500 composite index closed out the day up 0.2 at 1,220.14.

Focus Enhancements wraps $3.3 million deal

Moving to the tech sector, Focus Enhancements, Inc. settled a $3.3 million stock deal on Friday, selling 5,018,248 shares to a group of accredited investors.

The company reportedly had 62.4 million outstanding shares as of Aug. 10.

The shares were sold at $0.6576 each and the investors received warrants for 1,254,562 shares, exercisable at $0.8505 each through Nov. 3, 2010.

For the quarter ended June 30, Focus reported a net loss of $3,939,000, compared to a net loss of $2.59 million for the same quarter ended June 30, 2004.

Focus said in its latest earnings statement that it has relied on private placements of stock and debt to fund its operations in the past.

On June 21, the company raised $1.6 million through the private placement of 2,414,282 shares.

"Management believes that Focus will need to obtain additional financing and/or find a partner to fund operations before the end of 2005 in order to meet all currently planned expenditures and cash requirements through the first customer sampling of its Ultra Wideband chips," said the earnings statement.

"Such financing terms could include debt and/or equity instruments. Depending upon the results of this sampling program, customers' adoption and acceptance of the UWB products, the profitability of its systems business and Focus's efforts to partner with another entity to market the chips on a widespread commercial basis, Focus may need to raise further capital in 2006 for the widespread commercial deployment of UWB."

Based in Campbell, Calif., Focus Enhancements develops personal computer-to-television video scan and networking products.

On Friday, Focus's stock closed down $0.06 at $0.79.

Saxon Energy heads up Canadian offerings

Heading north of the border, Calgary, Alta.'s Saxon Energy Services Inc. priced a C$49.49 million unit offering Friday.

The company, which provides equipment and tool rentals to the oil and natural gas exploration sector, intends to sell 10.1 million units at C$4.90 apiece.

The units are comprised of one share and one half-share warrant. The whole warrants are exercisable at C$6.50 each for two years.

A syndicate of underwriters led by Westwind Partners Inc. has an over-allotment option for up to 6.1 million additional units.

Proceeds will be used to refinance credit facilities and to acquire and refurbish drilling and work-over rigs. The rest will be used for general corporate purposes.

The company's stock gained C$0.15 Friday to close at C$5.05.

Elsewhere in Canada, another Calgary-based company, Cell-Loc Location Technologies Inc., announced its intentions to head to the private placement market with a C$3 million offering.

That deal is composed of up to 15 million units of one share and one half-share warrant. The units are priced at C$0.20 each.

The whole warrants are exercisable at C$0.30 each for two years.

Loewen & Partners Corporate Services Inc. is the placement agent for the deal, which is expected to wrap up on Nov. 8.

The proceeds will be used for the completion of a wireless location network the company is deploying in Sao Paulo, Brazil. The rest will be used for working capital.

Cell-Loc develops network-based wireless location technology.

Cell-Loc's stock ended the day unchanged at C$0.1781.

InfoSearch's stock slips

InfoSearch Media, Inc.'s stock took a slight dip on Friday after securing agreements on Thursday for a $5,376,000 private placement of stock.

The company's stock lost a penny Friday to close at $0.76 after losing $0.03 on Thursday to end at $0.77.

Under the terms of the offering, InfoSearch will issue to a group of institutional investors stock at $0.64 each, a 20% discount to the company's closing stock price of $0.80 on Nov. 2.

Based in Marina Del Rey, Calif., InfoSearch makes search software used on Web sites of small- to mid-sized companies.

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