Blue Coat's stock climbs on $42 million PIPE; Eagle Bulk Shipping secures $33 million from stock sale

By Sheri Kasprzak

New York, June 23 - To round out the week, Blue Coat Systems, Inc. wrapped a $42.06 million private placement and saw its stock gain 5.41% on the day.

The company's stock settled up 81 cents to end at $15.78 (Nasdaq: BCSI).

In the offering, Blue Coat issued 42,060 shares of series A convertible preferred stock to Francisco Partners and Sequoia Capital at $1,000 each.

The preferreds are convertible at $17.525 each, a 17% premium to the company's $14.97 closing stock price on June 22.

Proceeds from the offering will be used for Blue Coat's acquisition of the assets of the NetCache business from Network Appliance, Inc. The rest of the proceeds will be used for general corporate purposes.

"We are pleased that Francisco Partners and Sequoia Capital share our vision of creating and building out the application delivery infrastructure and the opportunity it brings," said Brian NeSmith, Blue Coat's chief executive officer, in a news release. "Their investment enables us to continue investing in our strategic initiatives."

NeSmith did not return calls for comment on the deal by press time Friday.

"We are excited to partner with Blue Coat to facilitate and finance the acquisition of the assets of the NetCache business," said Keith Geeslin, managing director of Francisco Partners, in a statement. "This combination creates a strong platform that addresses the needs of organizations of all sizes for secure content and application delivery on the internet."

Based in Sunnyvale, Calif., Blue Coat is a web communications company.

In the broader market Friday, stocks closed down after making gains early in the session, and oil prices edged up.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 30.02 to close at 10,989.09 after climbing above 11,000 earlier in the day. The Nasdaq composite index slipped by 1.52 to close at 2,121.47 and the Standard & Poor's 500 composite index edged down 1.10 to end at 1,244.50.

Oil prices gained 3 cents to settle at $70.87 per barrel.

"Considering the week we've had, it's not bad today," said one New York-based market source of volume on Friday. "The [stock] market seemed to be heading up and that may have helped things pick up a little."

As for prospects for next week? The market source said: "We're just watching the market to see what happens."

Eagle Bulk's $33 million offering

Elsewhere in PIPE action, Eagle Bulk Shipping Inc. is gearing up to close a $33 million private placement.

The company plans to sell 2.75 million shares at $12.00 each, a 13.6% discount to the company's June 22 closing stock price of $13.90.

The deal is expected to close June 28.

On Friday, the stock closed down 4.68%, or 65 cents, to end the day at $13.25 (Nasdaq: EGLE).

New York-based Eagle is a shipping company.

Big Sky to raise $15 million

In the energy sector, Big Sky Energy Corp. will close a $15 million private placement of convertible notes by the end of the month.

The company will sell 6% notes to a single institutional investor.

The notes are due in two years and are convertible into common shares at a rate of 819.7 common shares per $1,000 in principal of notes.

On Friday, the company's stock gained a penny to end the session at $1.01 (Pink Sheets: BSKO).

Calgary, Alta.-based Big Sky is an oil and natural gas exploration company.

Wonder Auto goes public, places stock

Chinese auto maker Wonder Auto Ltd. wrapped a $12 million private placement of its stock and also completed a share exchange transaction with MGCC Investment Strategies, Inc. to go public.

The offering sent MGCC's stock skyrocketing by 66.67%, or $2.00, to end at $5.00 (OTCBB: MGIS).

In the placement, Wonder Auto issued 45.277236 shares at $265,033.85 each.

A group of shareholders also issued shares in a placement, selling $8 million in stock at the same price as the private placement offering.

In the exchange transaction, Wonder's shareholders received 8,627,858 shares of MGCC, or 88% of MGCC's outstanding stock for their shares of Wonder.

The companies will now operate on a consolidated basis and Wonder will go public through the deal.

Wonder Auto, based in Jinzhou City, China, is an automobile manufacturer. MGCC, before the exchange transaction, did not have any substantial operations.

Calpyte closes $3 million deal

In the biotech sector, Calypte Biomedical Corp. raised $3 million in a private placement.

The company sold 16,666,666 shares at $0.18 each to International Credit Bank and Tanfield International Ltd.

Proceeds will be used for the commercialization of a rapid test for HIV diagnosis. The remainder will be used for working capital.

"With this infusion of capital, Calypte continues to move closer to its ultimate goal of manufacturing and delivering cost-effective HIV diagnostic tests to those population centers suffering from such high levels of HIV infections," said Roger Gale, Calypte's CEO, in a statement. "We are realizing a portion of that mission by recent serious product inquiries from humanitarian organizations operating in regions where our products have received clearance for sale and distribution."

The stock remained unchanged Friday at $0.21 (Amex: HIV).

Calypte, based in Lake Oswego, Ore., develops diagnostic testing products for sexually transmitted diseases.

ISTA's stock edges up

ISTA Pharmaceuticals, Inc.'s stock closed slightly higher on Friday after closing a $40 million convertible notes offering announced Thursday.

The stock gained 2 cents to close the session at $6.22 (Nasdaq: ISTA).

ISTA's stock fell 14 cents, or 2.21%, on Thursday when the deal was announced to close at $6.20.

The notes, due in five years, are convertible into common shares at $7.75 per share, a 22.2% premium to the company's $6.34 closing stock price on June 21.

One buysider said even the slight increase in stock surprised him.

"Frankly, I'm surprised they didn't drop even more," he said. "We just don't like their products. I guess some people like them because they were able to do it [the offering], but I just don't see good things coming from them."

Located in Irvine, Calif., ISTA is a specialty pharmaceutical company focused on treatments for eye conditions like dry eye, vitreous hemorrhage, diabetic retinopathy, glaucoma and ocular pain.

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