Eastern Platinum arranges C$30 million offering; Mobility raises $10 million

By Sheri Kasprzak

Atlanta, April 5 - Canada's Eastern Platinum Ltd. led private placement news Tuesday as slightly higher stocks helped hold volume steady.

The C$30 million Eastern Platinum offering is being made as part of the amalgamation of Elgin Resources Inc. and Jonpol Explorations Ltd.

The two companies plan to merge into Eastern Platinum, converting their shares on a basis of one share of Eastern for all of Elgin's shares and on the basis of one share of Eastern for every four shares of Jonpol.

A syndicate of underwriters co-led by GMP Securities Ltd. and Canaccord Capital Corp. will place up to 20 million subscription receipts at C$1.50 each.

The receipts are exchangeable for one unit upon the completion of the amalgamation. The units are comprised of one share and one half-share warrant, the whole of which is exercisable for an additional share at C$2 each for three years.

The underwriters have an over-allotment option for up to 3,333,333 receipts.

After the offering was announced Tuesday morning, both Elgin's and Jonpol's stock dipped.

Elgin's stock closed down C$0.15 at C$1.45 and Jonpol's stock was down C$0.015 at C$0.335.

"Eastplats is committed to building a portfolio of platinum group metal mining and exploration projects in South Africa using Spitzkop as a foundation, where the average grade makes it one of the highest-grade undeveloped platinum group exploration projects in the country," said Ian Rozier, Elgin's president, in a statement.

"The C$30 million financing announced today will enable the company to move ahead rapidly with its objective to become a significant participant in South Africa's platinum group metals sector through the advancement and development of the Mareesburg and Spitzkop platinum group metals projects."

Based in Vancouver, B.C., Eastern Platinum is a platinum exploration company. It plans to use the proceeds from the deal for mining and exploration in South Africa.

Elsewhere, volume, according to some sell-siders, remained fairly stable as stocks made slight gains.

"It was pretty solid today," said one sell-sider of volume.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 35.10 to close at 10,456.24; the Nasdaq composite index was up 6.24 to close at 1,997.31 and the S&P 500 edged up 4.44 to end at 1,180.56.

Mobility raises $10 million

Mobility Electronics, Inc.'s stock got a boost Tuesday after it wrapped a private placement for $10,000,012 and announced sales representative agreements with investors Motorola, Inc. and RadioShack Corp.

Mobility sold 1,379,312 shares at $7.25 each to RadioShack and Motorola.

The two retailers also received warrants for 1,190,476 shares, exercisable at $8.40 each upon the achievement of certain performance results by Mobility.

On Tuesday, after the announcement of the closing and the sales agreement, Mobility's stock jumped $1.56, or 21.82%, to close at $8.71.

"Obviously, it bodes well for them," said one market source who had seen the offering. "I'd say the stock price was benefited from the closing, but the agreement is a huge deal for them. But the pricing of the deal looks good as well. Assuming they hit all of the required milestones, the warrants will be good for them too."

Under the terms of the sales representative agreements, RadioShack and Motorola will sale power products for low-power mobile electronics devices.

Based in Scottsdale, Ariz., Mobility Electronics designs docking stations for portable and handheld computers.

Calypte wraps $8 million deal

Over in the biotechnology sector, Calypte Biomedical Corp. closed an $8 million private placement of secure senior convertible notes.

The notes bear interest at 8%, mature in two years and are convertible into common shares at $0.30 each.

The investors will also receive series A warrants for 26.7 million shares, exercisable at $0.325 each for five years and series B warrants for 12 million shares, exercisable at $0.325 each for five years. Both sets of warrants become exercisable after six months and the company may force the exercise of the series B warrants under certain circumstances.

Based in Pleasanton, Calif., Calypte develops and commercializes diagnostic testing products for sexually transmitted diseases. It plans to use the proceeds for the commercialization of its tests for HIV-½ diagnosis and for working capital.

The company's stock closed down $0.01 at $0.26 on Tuesday.

Xoma convert seen up

Elsewhere in the biotech sector, some traders said Xoma Ltd.'s $60 million convertible was up around 10 points, though not particularly active, after the company's stock inexplicably jumped $0.34, or 32.38%, to close at $1.39 Tuesday.

One trader said he would mark the convertible around 88½ versus a stock price of $1.38 compared to 77½ versus Monday's stock price of $1.05.

Another source, however, said he felt that was too high.

"That seems high as I was offering them at 72 yesterday," that source said. "I would close them at 83 to 86."

One of the sources said he believes Xoma's converts move at about 0.5 per penny change in the stock.

The Xoma convertible was issued back in February with a seven-year maturity, a 6.5% coupon and a 15% initial conversion premium through JP Morgan Securities.

Raser's stock rises

A day after announcing its plans to raise $20 million in a private placement, Raser Technologies, Inc.'s stock made gains.

The company's stock closed up $1.20, or 3.64%, at $34.15 on Tuesday.

On Monday, when the offering was first announced, the company's stock dropped $0.45 to close at $32.95.

The company plans to sell C preferred shares, convertible into common shares at $24 each.

"As I had mentioned before, I think the discount looks good," said one market source familiar with the offering. "Sometimes it does take a while for the stock to respond, and I think that's the case with this particular deal."

Based in Provo, Utah, Raser develops technologies for electric motors, controllers, alternators and generators.

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