Advanced Drilling raises $17 million; Avasoft pockets $7.4 million from stock

By Sheri Kasprzak

New York, May 8 - Tech companies remained prominent in PIPE news on Tuesday even as tech stocks took a step back.

One sellside market source said recently that tech stocks had been performing much better a few weeks ago and the offerings that are closing now were likely priced then.

Another sellsider contacted Tuesday agreed.

"We're not seeing a lot pricing right now as far as tech [goes]," he said. "I think issuers in the sector are waiting for things to improve a bit before moving forward."

In the broader market, stocks took a hit with the Dow Jones Industrial Average giving up 55.58 to end at 13,309.07. The Nasdaq composite index gained 0.80 to settle at 2,571.75, and the Standard & Poor's 500 composite index gave up 1.76 to close at 1,507.72.

Heading up PIPE activity on Tuesday was a $17 million offering closed by Advanced Drilling Services, LLC as part of its reverse merger with Pacific East Advisors, Inc.

The company issued 13.6 million class B interests at $1.25 each.

Once the merger is complete, the Advanced Drilling-issued interests will automatically convert into 13.6 million Pacific East Advisors' common shares.

Under the merger terms, Advanced Drilling, which merged into DrillCo Acquisition Co., LLC, and Inner Magnolia Production Co., LLC, which merged into Impco Acquisition Co., LLC, became stockholders of Pacific East. Following the merger, Pacific East changed its name to Pacific Asia Petroleum, Inc. All of Pacific East's board members resigned prior to the reverse merger.

On Tuesday, Pacific East's stock fell 45 cents, or 4.52%, to close at $9.50 (Pink Sheets: PCAD).

Based in Cupertino, Calif., Pacific East is an oil drilling company.

Avasoft raises $7.4 million

Elsewhere, Avasoft, Inc. came away from the PIPE market with $7.4 million from the sale of 7.4 million shares.

The company sold the shares to 340 new accredited and institutional investors.

Brookstreet Securities was the lead agent for the deal.

The offering was upsized from its originally planned $7 million.

Proceeds will be used for marketing, operations and general corporate purposes.

"This financing, along with our recent transition to a public company, is a historic achievement for Avasoft and strongly positions the company to execute on its sizable business opportunity," said Jim Wheeler, the company's chief executive officer, in a news release.

"The investment community's enthusiastic response to Avasoft's product, management team and business plan is greatly appreciated. We were delighted to go on the road and meet with so many quality investors and are confident these 340 new investors will serve to broaden and strengthen our shareholder base."

Based in Rocklin, Calif., Avasoft develops soft-serve ice cream systems.

Viewpoint closes offering

In the previously mentioned tech sector, Viewpoint Corp. wrapped a $5.3 million private placement.

The company issued 13.25 million shares at $0.40 apiece.

The investors also received warrants for 3,312,500 shares, exercisable at $0.45 each for three and a half years.

The company's stock jumped 33.33%, or 17 cents, to close at $0.68 ahead of the company's earnings conference call planned for Wednesday morning (Nasdaq: VWPT).

Viewpoint, based in New York, provides digital services and consulting for internet marketers.

Synchronica raises $7 million

In other tech news, Synchronica plc announced that it completed a $7 million private placement of stock.

The terms of the offering were not immediately available Tuesday.

News of the deal sent the company's stock up 0.7p on Tuesday to settle at 13p (London: SYNC).

Proceeds from the offering will be used for the acceleration of the company's core business - mobile synchronization and device management solutions.

"This funding will enable us to capitalize on the traction we have gained in the international marketplace and to further improve our competitive position - particularly in the mobile e-mail space," said Carsten Brinkschulte, CEO of Synchronica, in a statement.

"Mobile e-mail is expanding into the mass market, where consumers require industry standard-based solutions, such as the ones we provide, rather than the proprietary solutions developed for example by RIM and Visto for the high-end business market."

Located in Reston, Va., Synchronica develops technologies to synchronize and manage mobile e-mail products.

Acacia stock climbs

A day after subsidiary CombiMatrix Group settled a $5,018,400 direct placement of units, Acacia Research Corp.'s stock gained almost 1.3%.

The stock ended the day up 18 cents to close at $14.11 (Nasdaq: ACTG). On Monday, when the deal closed, the stock fell 3.4%, or 49 cents, to settle at $13.98.

In the placement, CombiMatrix issued units of one share and one warrant for one and a half shares at $0.738 each.

CombiMatrix is splitting off from Acacia.

The shares and underlying shares are being sold under the company's shelf registration.

Based in Newport Beach, Calif., CombiMatrix is a division of Acacia Research Corp. The company uses semiconductor technology to determine the roles of genes, gene mutations and proteins.

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