Bravo! Foods gears up to wrap $30 million notes sale; Diomed raises $10 million from PIPE

By Sheri Kasprzak

New York, July 27 - Bravo! Foods International Corp. led PIPE action on Thursday with a $30 million private placement of convertible notes set to close early in the July 31 week.

The company is getting ready to issue 9% senior convertible notes to a group of institutional investors. The notes are convertible at $0.70 per share, a 12.9% premium to the company's $0.62 closing stock price on Wednesday.

After the offering was announced Thursday morning, Bravo's stock dipped by a penny to end the day at $0.61 (OTCBB: BRVO). Volume of the company's shares traded fell on Thursday, dropping to 447,355 shares traded compared to an average of 1,063,420 shares.

The investors will receive warrants for 12,857,143 shares, exercisable at $0.73 each.

Bravo chief financial officer Jeff Kaplan said he could not immediately comment on the offering when asked about the deal Thursday morning.

Proceeds from the offering will be used to pay off debt and pay existing accounts payable. The remainder will be used for general corporate purposes.

Bravo is no stranger to the PIPE market. The company settled a $20.25 million offering of 40.5 million shares on Nov. 23, 2005. Those shares were sold at a 30% discount to the company's $0.72 closing stock price on Nov. 22, 2005. When the offering closed Nov. 23, the stock dipped by 2 cents.

For the quarter ended March 31, Bravo reported a net loss of $3.89 million, compared to a net loss of $1.24 million for the corresponding quarter of 2005.

Based in North Palm Beach, Fla., Bravo! Develops flavored milk products.

Diomed raises $10 million

In the biotech sector, Diomed Holdings, Inc. settled a $10 million private placement of convertible preferred stock.

The preferreds are convertible into 8.7 million common shares at $1.15 each.

Connected to the placement, holders of Diomed's existing convertible stock will tender about 4 million existing preferreds for shares of the new preferred stock.

"A good [earnings] report, plus $10 million in new cash is nice," said a source at a health care fund in Connecticut. "I think we will see $3.00 very soon."

In the company's second-quarter earnings statement, released Thursday, Diomed reported consolidated revenue of $6.1 million, 33% up from the first quarter of 2006 and up 27% over the second quarter of 2005.

On Thursday, the company's stock fell by 6.38%, or 9 cents, to close at $1.32 (Amex: DIO).

"We are extremely pleased with the terms of the financing," said David Swank, Diomed's chief financial officer, in a news release. "We also believe that, subject to review by the Amex, this transaction addresses the minimum stockholders equity concern noted by the exchange last month. Investors may be pleased to see that, under this financing, we have been able both to strengthen and to simplify our balance sheet."

"This financing enhances our ability to drive the growth of our business and to continue to vigorously protect our intellectual property rights under U.S. patent law," said James Wylie, the company's chief executive officer, in a statement. "We are particularly pleased with the participation of a number of premier medically oriented institutional investors in this financing, including both new and existing investors, which we view as confirmation of the market's belief in Diomed's solid growth potential."

Andover, Mass.-based Diomed develops minimally invasive medical devices used to treat varicose veins.

EDAP stock tumbles 20%

In other biotech news, French company EDAP TMS SA watched its stock sink after announcing a $7,452,989 private placement set to close in early August.

By 10 a.m. ET Thursday, the stock had fallen by 19.98%, or $2.08, going on to lose 20.7%, or $2.16, to end the session at $8.25 (Nasdaq: EDAP).

In the placement, a group of accredited investors agreed to buy 961,676 American Depositary Shares at $7.75 each.

The deal is scheduled to close Aug. 3.

Proceeds will be used for marketing efforts for the company's high-intensity focused ultrasound treatment for prostate cancer.

Based in Lyon, France, EDAP is focused on minimally invasive products to detect diseases like cancer.

Killam raises another C$10 million

In Canada, Killam Properties Inc. said it is preparing to raise another C$10 million from a previously announced private placement, bringing the total proceeds from the deal to C$20 million.

The company will issue 6.33% debentures due in seven years. The debentures are convertible at C$3.06 each. The conversion price is a 25% premium to the company's C$2.45 closing stock price on Wednesday.

On Thursday, the company's stock fell 2.86%, or 7 cents, to settle at C$2.38 (Toronto: KMP).

In January Killam sold C$5 million in debentures with a coupon of 5.92% and later sold another C$5 million in the debentures as part of an option to raise up to C$20 million in the offering. The company has raised a total of C$20 million, and the deal is now closed.

Proceeds will be used to reduce bridge facility debt incurred during an acquisition.

Killam concluded a similar offering in April 2005 when it sold C$57.5 million in convertible debentures. Those debentures bear interest at 6.5% annually and are convertible at C$3.10 each.

Killam, based in Halifax, N.S., is a real estate company that manages multi-family residential rental properties.

Iberian stock falls

A day after wrapping a C$25 million convertible debentures deal, Iberian Minerals Corp.'s stock dropped by 3.2%.

The stock slipped 4 cents to close at C$1.21 (TSX Venture: IZN). The company's stock closed unchanged at C$1.25 Wednesday when the placement closed.

In the private placement, Dundee Resources Ltd. purchased 6% notes that are convertible into units of one share and one half-share warrant. The debentures are convertible at C$1.25 each through July 26, 2009; at C$1.38 from July 27, 2009 through July 26, 2010; and at C$1.52 each from July 27, 2010 through July 26, 2011.

Toronto-based Iberian is a mineral exploration company.

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