Frontera gets $23.5 million; Biofusion expands tie-up; Senesco hits milestone; Petro to offer units

By Kenneth Lim

Boston, July 7 - Frontera Resources Corp. placed $23.5 million of convertible notes to raise funds for its ongoing projects.

Biofusion plc announced a £2.11 million stock placement that will help finance the commercialization of projects from University of Sheffield.

Meanwhile, Senesco Technologies, Inc. said it settled the remaining $3 million of a $10 million capital raise and will now move toward the next development phase of an experimental drug.

Petro Vista Energy Corp. plans to raise C$15.02 million through a private placement of stock-and-warrants units.

Frontera sells convertibles

Frontera Resources said it sold $23.5 million of convertible unsecured notes due July 2013 through a private placement.

The 10% notes will be initially convertible into Frontera common stock at $2.14 per share. Shares of Frontera (Pink Sheets: FRTE) closed at $1.82 on Monday, lower by 4.21%, or $0.08.

Investors also received warrants for a number of common shares equal to 7.5% of the shares into which their notes are convertible. The warrants are exercisable at $3.50 for five years.

Proceeds will be used to continue to advance ongoing work programs throughout Frontera's primary business units within its Block 12 license area in the country of Georgia.

Frontera is an independent oil and gas exploration and production company with headquarters in Houston.

"Frontera remains well positioned to continue to advance its focused investment programs amidst a strong commodity price environment," Frontera chairman and chief executive Steve C. Nicandros said in a statement. "Our encouraging progress from operations throughout our primary business units within Block 12 continues to provide the basis for implementing aggressive work programs that are designed to continue to increase production and to realize the significant value that our historical investment has identified."

Biofusion raises £2.11 million

Biofusion raised £2.11 million through a private placement of shares to institutional investors as it expanded a key business agreement and prepares for a name change.

Biofusion, which will change its name to Fusion IP plc, said it sold about 2.35 million ordinary shares at 90p per share. Biofusion common stock (AIM: BFN) slid 5.26%, or 5p, on Monday to close at 90p.

Proceeds will be used to commercialize non-life science intellectual property and medical life science intellectual property from the University of Sheffield.

Biofusion is a Sheffield, England-based firm that focuses on commercializing the intellectual property from the University of Sheffield and Cardiff University.

Along with the placement, Biofusion announced that it has expanded its existing 10-year exclusive agreement with the University of Sheffield to include the commercialization of all non-life science research-generated intellectual property. To reflect the expanded scope, the company plans to change its name to Fusion IP. The university also received the right to appoint a non-executive director to the board of Biofusion.

"The expanded and exclusive agreement with Sheffield gives Biofusion access to all of the university's IP and especially the university's world class research in areas such as energy, engineering and electronics," Biofusion chief executive David Baynes said in a statement.

"Biofusion is a leading university IP commercialization business operating amongst a very strong peer group and today's news endorses our current business model and reflects positively on the relationship that we have already built with the University of Sheffield," Baynes added. "We are confident that Biofusion will continue to expand its business model across additional universities in the future."

Senesco meets milestone

Senesco Technologies said it settled the remaining $3 million of a $10 million convertible placement following the achievement of the final funding milestones.

The convertibles were issued to YA Global Investments and Stanford Venture Capital Holdings as part of deals that priced in August 2007.

The 8% debentures are due on Aug. 1, 2010 and are initially convertible into Senesco common stock at $0.90 in the first two years. The conversion price will be the lower of $0.90 and 80% of the lowest daily volume-weighted average price for the five days before conversion after the first two years.

Senesco common stock (AMEX: SNT) closed at $1.53 on Monday, down by 5.56%, or $0.09.

In connection with the placement, YA Global received warrants for about 5.56 million shares and Stanford received warrants for about 8.33 million shares.

The warrants are exercisable in two series. The exercise price is $1.01 for series A and $0.90 for series B. The warrants expire after five years.

Proceeds will be used to advance Senesco's research in multiple myeloma, with the goal of initiating a Phase I clinical trial.

Based in New Brunswick, N.J., Senesco develops treatments for cancer, glaucoma, ischemia and arthritis.

Senesco said in a press release that it will take about 12 more months to complete the steps necessary to file an investigational new drug application, and the placement proceeds should be sufficient to complete those steps.

"Achieving the final funding milestones in less than one year further demonstrates the progress that we continue to make with our human health research program," Senesco president and chief executive Bruce Galton said in the press release. "Closing on this last funding milestone allows Senesco to aggressively move forward in planning our toxicology studies and other activities necessary to prepare for our planned IND [investigational new drug] filing for our multiple myeloma product candidate."

Petro Vista offers units

Petro Vista said it plans to offer C$15.02 million of stock-and-warrant units through a private placement.

The deal involves 13.65 million units at C$1.10 each, offered on a best-efforts basis. Each unit comprises one common share and one half-share warrant. Each whole warrant will be exercisable at C$1.60 for two years.

Petro Vista common stock (TSX: PTV) slipped 3.1%, or C$0.04, to finish at C$1.25 on Monday.

Petro Vista, a Vancouver, B.C.-based petroleum exploration company, said it will use the proceeds to finance the initial exploration and development of its interests in South America.

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