Epic Energy Resources pockets $26.85 million from stock and notes with warrants

By Laura Lutz

Des Moines, Dec. 7 - Epic Energy Resources, Inc. led Friday's PIPE news with the announcement of two private placements for a total of $26.85 million.

The company sold $6.6 million of stock with warrants to one investor group and $20.25 million of notes with warrants to another.

The stock placement consisted of 4,397,000 common shares at $1.50 each and warrants for 4,397,000 shares. Those warrants are exercisable at $1.50 until Dec. 5, 2012.

In the note placement, Epic sold $20.25 million principal amount of secured notes along with warrants for 15,954,545 shares. Those warrants are exercisable at $1.65 per share until Dec. 5, 2012.

The notes mature on Dec. 5, 2012 and bear interest at 10% per year.

Epic is an oil and gas company based in The Woodlands, Texas. Its stock rose 5 cents, or 1.54%, to finish Friday at $3.30 (OTCBB: EPCC).

Discovery Labs, Gander Mountain sell stock

Over in the biotech sector, Discovery Laboratories, Inc. priced a $25 million direct placement of stock.

The biotech company plans to sell 10 million common shares through Jefferies & Co., Inc. The shares are priced at $2.50 each.

Based in Warrington, Pa., Discovery develops treatments for respiratory diseases.

The company's stock lost 28 cents, or 9.21%, to close at $2.76 on Friday before losing another 3 cents in after-hours trading (Nasdaq: DSCO).

Meanwhile, retailer Gander Mountain Co. sold $24 million of common stock in a private placement with two investors.

Gratco, LLC bought 3,065,000 shares for $18.08 million, and Holiday Stationstores, Inc. bought 1,002,797 shares for $5.92 million.

The stock was priced at $5.90 per share.

Gander is a St. Paul-based operator of stores for outdoor lifestyle products and services.

The company just completed an acquisition of Overton's Holding Co. from Linsalata Capital Partners. Overton's is an internet and catalog marketing company focused on recreational boaters.

Gander used the proceeds from the stock placement for the acquisition.

The company's stock dropped 52 cents, or 9.47%, to close Friday at $4.97 before regaining 3 cents in after-hours trading (Nasdaq: GMTN).

ProMetic gets equity line

Moving north, Montreal-based ProMetic Life Sciences Inc. announced a C$15 million equity draw down facility with investor Nanuq Investments Ltd.

Under the facility, ProMetic may sell subordinate shares to Nanuq over the next two years at a 4% to 7% discount to the volume weighted average price of the shares.

ProMetic provided notice of a C$1 million draw when the facility closed on Thursday.

The timing, minimum dollar amount and price per share of each draw are up to ProMetic - subject to some conditions, including its stock trading at or above C$0.45.

"One of the most important advantages of this facility is that it offers us the flexibility to access capital efficiently when market conditions are the most opportune for ProMetic," Pierre Laurin, the company's president and chief executive officer, commented in a news release.

ProMetic is a biopharmaceutical company focused on a technology for the large-scale purification of biologics and the elimination of pathogens. Its shares gained C$0.02, or 3.33%, to close at C$0.62 on Friday (Toronto: PLI).

Western Canadian wraps C$40 million deal

As is often the case, Canadian resource companies accounted for the bulk of the day's deals.

Leading the pack, Western Canadian Coal Corp. closed the C$10 million final tranche of its C$40 million placement of senior convertible debentures.

Audley European Opportunities Fund bought the U.S. dollar-denominated convertibles.

The unsecured debentures mature in three years and bear interest at 8.5% per year. They are convertible into common shares at C$0.75 per share.

Western Canadian, a Vancouver, B.C.-based coal mining company, will use the proceeds for working capital at its Wolverine mine, to pay down bank debt and for general corporate purposes.

The company's shares closed down C$0.05, or 4.03%, at C$1.19 on Friday (Toronto: WTN).

Arapahoe to raise C$22 million

In other Canadian resource news, Arapahoe Energy Corp. upsized a private placement of shares to C$14 million from C$10 million and priced a private placement of units for up to C$8 million.

The share offering will now consist of 112 million flow-through shares at C$0.125 each. When the non-brokered deal originally priced, on Oct. 19, it included only 80 million shares.

The placement of units will consist of up to 64 million units at C$0.125 apiece. Each unit consists of one common share and one warrant, exercisable at C$0.20 for one year.

Some of the proceeds from the shares will be used by First West Petroleum Inc., which Arapahoe plans to acquire, to develop its properties. The rest will be used by Arapahoe to explore its oil and gas properties.

The proceeds from the units will be used for project development, acquisitions and general working capital.

Arapahoe is an oil and gas exploration and development company based in Calgary, Alta.

Its shares lost C$0.01, or 9.09%, to close at C$0.10 on Friday (TSX Venture: AAO).

Finavera, Vitality ax deals

Both Finavera Renewables Inc. and Vitality Products Inc. canceled previously announced private placements.

Finavera said it would not complete the C$23 million placement of units that it priced on Oct. 23. Dundee Securities Corp. and CIBC World Markets Inc. were slated to be the agents in that deal.

Instead, Finavera will raise between C$1.1 million and C$2 million from a non-brokered private placement of units.

The units in the new placement will be priced at C$0.10 and will each consist of one share and one half-share warrant.

That pricing is down sharply from the earlier planned deal, which was expected to include units of one share and one whole warrant for C$0.40 per unit.

Based in Vancouver, B.C., Finavera develops projects and technology in the clean renewable energy sector.

Finavera's shares lost C$0.015, or 10%, to close at C$0.135 on Friday (TSX Venture: FVR). That is a decline of 66.25% from the C$0.40 closing price of the shares on Oct. 23.

Vitality, meanwhile, cancelled a C$3 million private placement. That deal, which priced on Nov. 7, was to have included 5 million units at C$0.60 apiece.

Based in Vancouver, B.C., Vitality is engaged in the manufacturing, marketing and distribution of vitamin, mineral and nutritional supplements and certified organic food products.

Vitality's shares lost C$0.02, or 9.09%, to close at C$0.20 on Friday - a 55.56% drop from the C$0.45 closing price on Nov. 7 (TSX Venture: VPI).

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