CompuPrint's stock jumps 13% on word of stock deal; GW Pharma sells shares to U.S. investor

By Sheri Kasprzak

New York, Jan. 4 - CompuPrint, Inc.'s $50 million private placement agreement with Esterna Ltd. nudged the company's stock up more than 13% on Wednesday.

CompuPrint's stock gained 6 cents, or 13.33% Wednesday after the deal was announced in the morning, settling at $0.51.

The company has already issued 500,000 shares for proceeds of $500,000 to Esterna.

The investor intends to buy another 49.5 million shares before March 31.

As of Nov. 14, CompuPrint had 41,508,338 outstanding common shares.

"We are pleased that Esterna has successfully completed its initial due diligence regarding our company's STeP technology and has decided to invest in the company," said chief executive officer Roman Rozenberg, in a statement, of the company's STeP technology, which locates commercially viable minerals and other materials under the earth. "The proposed investment by Esterna of an additional $49.5 million would provide additional to allow the company to further its business model of surveying and then leasing or purchasing properties, such as those contemplated for oil drilling operations in the western United States and Canada this year and next year, and to fund our cash flow needs for the foreseeable future.

"Esterna's involvement would also expand and strengthen our board of directors. Esterna has stated its intention to deliver the involvement of a committed, well-funded marquee investor, which could prove to be the most significant financing event in the history of the company."

This marks the second PIPE the company has completed in the past month. On Dec. 21, CompuPrint sold 1 million shares at $1.00 apiece to Belhasa International Co., LLC.

On July 6, the company issued $2 million in a private placement of convertible debentures with Enficon Establishment. The 6% debentures were convertible into common shares at $1.00 each.

Moving to its earnings, CompuPrint reported a net loss of $461,995 for the quarter ended Sept. 30, 2005, compared with a net loss of $1,824 for the same quarter of 2004.

New York-based CompuPrint, through subsidiary Terra Insight Corp., provides mapping, surveying and analytical services to natural resources exploration and drilling companies.

GW Pharma's £8.6 million deal

In other business, GW Pharmaceuticals plc wrapped a £8,608,322 private placement with a U.S.-based institutional investor on Wednesday and also announced that the Food and Drug Administration accepted its Investigational New Drug Application for its cannabis-based pain-relief drug Sativex.

The two news items knocked the company's stock down on both the London Stock Exchange and the Over-the-Counter Bulletin Board.

The company's stock closed down 3p, or 1.88%, to end at 157p in London and in the States lost 10 cents, or 3.39%, to settle at $2.85.

GW sold 6,165,978 shares at 139.61p each, a 5% discount to the weighted average price of the company's stock on Tuesday. On Tuesday the company's stock had closed at 160p.

The investor also received five-year warrants for 1,849,794 shares. Of those, 924,897 are exercisable at £1.61 each and the rest at £1.745 each.

Proceeds will be used for phase 3 clinical trials on the company's Sativex product for pain in cancer patients.

"The announcement today of a phase 3 IND in the U.S. together with this U.S.-led financing marks a further step forward for the company's global ambitions," said the company's executive chairman, Geoffrey Guy, in a statement. "GW has been planning carefully its approach to the U.S. market for a number of years and has established a group of prominent U.S. advisers and experts to assist its efforts.

"This financing will permit GW to start the U.S. development of Sativex whilst the company seeks a U.S. licensing partner. The placing also widens GW's institutional shareholder base to include an experienced U.S.-based biopharmaceutical investor."

Based in London, GW develops pain-relief drugs using cannabis.

Calypso leads Canadians

Heading to light PIPE action north of the border, Calypso Acquisition Corp. priced a C$3 million unit offering as part of its planned acquisition of Energia Mineral SA.

The offering comes as both oil and gold prices continued to rise. One market source in Canada said these movements could continue to push more resources deals this month.

"I would expect so," he said when asked if the higher gold and oil prices would mean more deals. "Commodities are definitely pushing activity here."

Oil rose 28 cents to end at $63.42 per barrel, and gold prices gained $1.20 to end at $533.70 per ounce.

Back to Calypso, the company plans to sell up to 6.25 million units at C$0.48 each. The units consist of one share and one warrant. The warrants are exercisable at C$0.60 each for two years.

After news of the offering and the acquisition were announced Wednesday afternoon, the company's stock climbed 19.72%, or C$0.14, to end at C$0.85.

Calypso plans to buy the outstanding shares of Energia Mineral SA for 4.6 million shares of Calypso. Once the acquisition is completed, Roney Long will be appointed director and president of the company.

Based in Vancouver, B.C., Calypso acquires and operates mineral exploration companies.

Elsewhere in the natural resources sector, Unigold Inc. negotiated a C$1 million stock deal of up to 4,444,444 shares at C$0.225 each.

The non-brokered deal is slated to close Jan. 17, and the proceeds will be used for exploration on properties in the Dominican Republic.

The company's stock fell 17.53%, or C$0.085, on Wednesday to end at C$0.40.

Based in Toronto, Unigold is a gold exploration and development company.

Simtek stock up 3.85%

A day after settling an $11 million PIPE, Simtek Corp.'s stock edged up 3.85% on Wednesday.

The company's stock gained a penny to end at $0.27 after falling 10.34% on Tuesday.

On Tuesday, the company announced that it sold shares at $0.16 each to a group of institutional investors led by Crestview Capital Master LLC.

Simtek is also in the process of purchasing the nvSRAM product line from Zentrum Mikroelektronik Dresden AG.

Simtek, based in Colorado Springs, Colo., provides non-volatile memory for storage systems, hard disks, copiers, printers and other applications.

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