First Community Bancorp to close $109.45 million direct offering; Arius prices $20 million units

By Sheri Kasprzak

New York, Jan. 31 - First Community Bancorp's stock got a slight lift Tuesday after the company announced the pending completion of a $109,456,057 direct stock offering.

First Community's stock gained 3.42%, or $1.99, to end the day at $60.10 after the offering was announced late Monday (Nasdaq: FCBP).

A group of accredited investors agreed to buy up to 1,891,086 shares at $57.88 each. The offering is slated to close on Feb. 1.

First Community had 17,911,660 outstanding common shares as of Oct. 25.

The price per share was a small discount to the company's closing stock price of $58.11 on Jan. 30.

On Sept. 6, First Community completed a $14.1 million direct placement of 300,000 shares at $47.00 each.

Proceeds will be used for the company's acquisition of Cedars Bank, which closed on Jan. 4.

Looking to the company's earnings, First Community reported net earnings of $12,994,000 for the quarter ended Sept. 30, 2005, compared with net earnings of $9,576,000 for the same quarter of 2004.

Based in Rancho Santa Fe, Calif., First Community operates a chain of banks in California and Texas.

Moving to the biotech sector, Arius Research Inc. priced a $20 million private placement of units, sending its stock down more than 10%.

The company's stock lost $0.094, or 10.11%, to settle at $0.836 Tuesday after the offering was announced in the morning (Pink Sheets: AIURF).

The offering includes up to 28,555,111 units at $0.7004 each to a group of investors that includes OrbiMed Advisors, LLC; Xmark Opportunity Partners, LLC; and Efficacy Capital Ltd.

The units are comprised of one share and one warrant. The warrants are exercisable at C$1.00 each for five years. The offering is set to close in February. A syndicate of placement agents led by Dundee Securities Corp. will be placing the units.

"The funds raised from this private placement will enable Arius to expand the FunctionFirst platform and build greater value by retaining rights to its antibody drug candidates until later in development," said David Young, the company's chief scientific officer, in a statement.

Toronto-based Arius is a biotechnology company focused on novel treatments for cancer.

Tiger Telematics raises $5 million

In the tech sector, Tiger Telematics settled a $5 million convertible loan offering with Laffitte Partners, LLC Tuesday.

Laffitte purchased a convertible loan payable in equal installments due 90 days from the date of each advance.

The loan bears interest at Prime rate plus 550 basis points and is convertible into common shares at $0.30 each.

The investor received warrants equal to the amounts of actual advances, exercisable at $0.30 each for three years.

Proceeds will be used for working capital.

On Tuesday, the company's stock lost 12.9%, or 8 cents, to end at $0.54 (Pink Sheets: TGTL).

Tiger Telematics, based in Jacksonville, Fla., designs, develops and markets mobile telematic systems.

Central Alberta's C$5.25 million offering

Among Canadian issuers, Central Alberta Well Services Corp. led PIPE activity, pricing a C$5.25 million stock deal as part of its acquisition of SSI Special Services Group of Cos.

The company plans to sell up to 3 million shares at C$1.75 each.

The placement is expected to close Feb. 10.

Proceeds will be used to acquire rigs, service equipment and to complete the SSI transaction.

Central Alberta agreed to acquire all of SSI's outstanding common shares at C$18 million. Of the purchase price, C$4 million will be paid in cash and the rest will be made with 8 million shares of Central Alberta issued a C$1.75 each.

The acquisition is slated to close on Feb. 28.

The agreements, both announced Tuesday afternoon, sent the company's stock down 3.78%, or 7 cents, to close at C$1.78 (TSX Venture: CWC).

"We are very excited about the synergies provided by this strategic merger," said Darryl Wilson, the company's chief executive officer, in a statement. "Not only will this partnership compliment our existing business operations, but it will introduce new markets and an expanded product line to our operations. Central Alberta and SSI share the same entrepreneurial vision and focus on customer service."

On June 22, Central Alberta completed a C$18,504,900 private placement of convertible debentures. The debentures were convertible into common shares at C$0.90 each.

Based in Red Deer, Alta., Central Alberta provides well servicing maintenance to oil and natural gas exploration companies.

Syscan plans C$2.5 million unit deal

Looking elsewhere in Canada, Syscan International Inc. priced a C$2.5 million private placement of units.

The deal includes up to 8,333,333 units at C$0.30 apiece. The units consist of one share and one half-share warrant. The full warrants allow for the purchase of another share at C$0.45 each for one year.

Dominick & Dominick Securities Inc. is the placement agent.

Proceeds will be used for working capital.

"Following the recent announcements of Jan. 18, 2006 and Jan. 23, 2006, we are now poised to drive commercialization and execute our aggressive growth plan," said Axel Striefler, Syscan's president, in a statement. "The private placement for C$2.5 million will enable us to exploit our technological lead and accelerate penetration of both targeted vertical markets, namely food and pharmaceuticals."

Based in Montreal, Syscan supplies integrated real-time tracking and tracing services to the food, pharmaceutical and health care sectors.

InfoSonics stock slips

A day after pricing a $14.41 million private placement, InfoSonics Corp.'s stock dropped slightly.

The stock lost 31 cents, or 2.21%, to close at $13.69 Tuesday (Amex: IFO).

On Monday, when the private placement was priced, the company's stock fell 12.4%.

InfoSonics intends to sell shares at $13.10 each. The price per share is an 18% discount to the company's closing stock price of $15.98 on Jan. 27.

San Diego-based InfoSonics distributes wireless handsets and other accessories used with wireless devices.

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