Amkor prices $100 million of convertibles; UCN wraps $2.5 million stock offering

By Sheri Kasprzak

New York, Nov. 14 - Amkor Technology, Inc. led private placement news with the pricing of its $100 million convertible note offering.

Amkor's 6.25% notes are due in 2013 and are convertible into common shares at $7.49 each, a 30% premium to the average closing bid price for the five trading days before pricing, ended Nov. 11.

The notes will be issued to chief executive officer James J. Kim and certain of his affiliated entities. The deal is expected to close Nov. 18.

Neither Jeffrey Luth, a spokesman for the company, nor chief financial officer Kenneth Joyce returned calls for additional information or comment on the offering by press time Monday.

The company's plans to conduct the private placement were revealed without details on Oct. 26 when its third-quarter earnings report was released.

The offering is part of a three-pronged financing arrangement that also includes the replacement of the company's existing $30 million revolving credit facility with a $100 million first-lien revolving lending facility and negotiations to raise $100 million in Asia to support operating cash requirements there.

On Wednesday, the company's stock slipped 21 cents to close at $4.37, but gained another 23 cents in after-hours trading. The earnings report and proposed financings were announced late Wednesday.

The pricing of the offering was announced Monday morning, and the company's stock slipped 9 cents, or 1.57%, to end the day at $5.65. In after-hours trading, the company's stock lost another penny.

Proceeds will be used to refinance a portion of its outstanding $233 million in 5.75% convertible subordinated notes due June 1, 2006. The 5.75% notes are convertible into common shares at $35.00 each.

Looking to its earnings, Amkor reported a net loss of $19,417,000 for the quarter ended Sept. 30, compared with a net loss of $22,334,000 for the same quarter of 2004.

Based in Chandler, Ariz., Amkor assembles memory cards used in semiconductors.

Moving to the telecommunications sector, Salt Lake City's UCN, Inc. settled a $2.5 million private placement of stock.

The company issued 1.25 million shares at $2.00 each. The investors also received warrants for 312,500 shares, exercisable through Nov. 14, 2010 at $2.00 each.

Separately, UCN said it closed a three-year revolving credit facility with CapitalSource Finance for $10 million.

"The net proceeds of the private placement and the line of credit are intended to improve our balance sheet and working capital position," said Paul Jarman, the company's chief executive officer, in a statement. "Additionally, proceeds will be used to accelerate our sales and marketing related programs and development of our inContact products."

UCN's third-quarter earnings report was also released on Monday.

For the quarter ended Sept. 30, the company reported total revenues of $22.2 million, a 41% increase over the $15.7 million in total revenues reported for the same period in 2004.

"The increases are due primarily to additional revenue derived from the Transtel [Communications Ltd.] acquisition, which added $5.6 million in revenue during the third quarter of 2005 and $9.3 million during the nine months ended Sept. 30, 2005," the report said.

On Monday, UCN's stock gained 10 cents, or 5.41%, to finish at $1.95.

UCN provides contact-handling software services through a voice-over-internet-protocol network.

Oil prices move back up

After taking a particularly significant dip late last week, oil prices crept back up Monday on word of colder temperatures.

Even though it will impact PIPEs only temporarily, the pinch was felt on Monday, said one sellside source based in New York.

"I'd say it has a lot to do with it," he said when asked if rising oil was pulling down volume. "Things in general are slowing down quite a bit. Things [volume] tend to get kind of quiet when oil goes up but these things go in cycles."

Oil prices edged up $0.16 to close the day at $57.69 per barrel.

Meanwhile, stocks started the day higher but ended mixed ahead of some economic data due later this week.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 11.13 to end at 10,697.17; the Nasdaq composite index lost 1.52 to close at 2,200.95, and the Standard & Poor's 500 composite index slid 0.96 to settle at 1,233.76.

Dynacor leads Canadian deals

Heading to Canada, Montreal-based Dynacor Mines Inc. led very light private placement action there with an C$8 million private placement.

The company intends to sell 32 million units of one share and one half-share warrant at C$0.25 apiece.

The whole warrants allow for an additional share at C$0.35 each for two years.

Dominick & Dominick Securities Inc. is the placement agent.

Proceeds will be used for exploration on the Pasto Bueno tungsten mine.

Dynacor is a mineral exploration company.

The stock remained unchanged at C$0.27 Monday.

Elsewhere in Canada, Pan-Global Energy Ltd. priced a C$5 million stock offering.

The offering includes up to 12.5 million shares at C$0.40 each sold through a syndicate of agents led by Jennings Capital Inc.

The proceeds offering will be used for the exploitation and exploration of the Onion Lake land block.

In connection with the private placement, Am Schoch, the company's chairman, chief executive officer and president, has resigned. Gord Harris was appointed chairman and interim chief executive officer. Richard Naden was appointed interim president.

Calgary, Alta.-based Pan-Global is an oil and natural gas exploration company.

Sangamo stock slips

Sangamo BioSciences, Inc.'s stock took a dip on Monday after pricing a $20.5 million direct placement of stock.

Sangamo's stock lost 15 cents, or 3.49%, to close at $4.15 on Monday.

On Friday, when the direct placement was announced, the company's stock remained unchanged at $4.30.

The company intends to sell shares at $3.85 each to a group of institutional investors and at $4.24 each to one of its directors. The deal is expected to close Nov. 16, and the shares will be issued under the company's shelf registration.

Sangamo, based in Richmond, Calif., develops DNA-binding proteins for therapeutic gene regulation and modification, concentrating on zinc finger DNA-binding proteins.

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