Idaho General Mines digs up $30 million from PIPE; Wave Systems raises $4.46 million from stock sale

By Sheri Kasprzak

New York, Feb. 16 - Idaho General Mines, Inc. led PIPE news Thursday, closing a $30 million unit deal that sent its stock down.

The company issued 15 million units of one share and one half-share warrant in an offering that pushed its stock down by 6.83%. The stock fell 22 cents after the placement was announced Thursday morning to close the day at $3.00 (OTCBB: IMGI).

The whole warrants issued in the deal will be exercisable for five years at $3.75 each.

As of Nov. 10, Idaho General had 15,606,893 common shares outstanding.

Proceeds will be used for permitting and engineering on the company's Mount Hope molybdenum project in Nevada.

"Funding of the permitting and final engineering for the company's Mount Hope molybdenum project in Eureka County, Nevada, remains the central focus of our efforts," said the company's president, Robert Russell, in a statement. "Completing this financing assures our ability to aggressively progress toward our goal of placing this world-class deposit into production."

In October, the company exercised an option to lease the molybdenum project from Mt. Hope Mines, Inc. The lease allows the exploration company the right to mine on the property for the next 30 years.

Idaho General Mines completed a similar offering in January when it issued 3,441,936 units at $1.10 each. Those units also included one share and one half-share warrant, the whole of which was exercisable at $1.75 each for two years.

Looking to the company's earnings, Idaho General reported a net loss of $757,281 for the quarter ended Sept. 30, 2005, compared with a net loss of $285,363 for the same quarter of 2004.

Based in Spokane, Wash., Idaho General Mines is a mineral exploration company.

Elsewhere in relatively light private placement activity Thursday, Wave Systems Corp. sealed a $4,466,500 stock offering.

The company sold 8,348,598 class A shares at $0.535 each and issued warrants for 1,550,868 shares, exercisable at $0.72 each for six months.

The company's stock lost $0.0203, or 2.9%, to close at $0.6797 (Nasdaq: WAVX).

Proceeds will be used for ongoing operations and for general corporate purposes.

Based in Lee, Mass., Wave develops security and e-commerce applications for internet businesses.

Resources may make comeback

In the broader private placement market Thursday, one market source in Vancouver, B.C., said if oil prices continue to rise, as they did Thursday, resources might return to the PIPE market in the coming week.

"It really depends on what oil does," he noted. "Gold's looking a little better as well, so that will probably help, well, obviously gold issuers, but minerals in general."

Oil prices advanced $0.81 Thursday after sustaining significant losses earlier in the week to end at $58.46 per barrel.

Gold prices, which have also been heading downward all week, made some gains as well, advancing $4.60 to close at $544.20 per ounce.

Looking to stocks, the Dow Jones Industrial Average continued to climb Thursday, moving ahead 61.71 to end at 11,120.68, and the Nasdaq composite index gained 18.20 to close at 2,294.63. The Standard & Poor's 500 composite index settled up 9.38 to end at 1,289.38.

ViRexx wraps C$12 million PIPE

In Canada, ViRexx Medical Corp. continued the trend of biotech companies in the PIPE market, settling a C$12 million unit deal.

The company sold 10,909,090 units of one share and one warrant at C$1.10 apiece. Each warrant allow for the purchase of another share at C$1.50 each for two years.

Proceeds will be used to fund clinical trials of the company's Occlusin and HepaVaxx B products.

"This transaction strengthens our balance sheet as we approach important milestones for our earlier stage product pipeline, specifically the completion of our phase 1 Occlusin 50 Injection trial and initiation of the phase 1 HepaVaxx B trial," said Lorne Tyrrell, the company's chief executive officer, in a statement released Thursday morning. "Our late-stage OvaRex MAb product, which is currently in phase 3 trials, continues to be funded by our partner, United Therapeutics."

On Thursday, the stock lost 3 cents, or 2.1%, to finish at C$1.40 (Toronto: VIR).

Based in Edmonton, Alta., ViRexx develops treatments for cancers and hepatitis B and C.

Pro-Pharmaceuticals stock climbs

After announcing the pending completion of a $10 million convertible debenture deal on Wednesday, Pro-Pharmaceuticals, Inc.'s stock gained more than 3% Thursday.

The stock rose 10 cents, or 3.27%, to end at $3.16 (Amex: PRW).

On Wednesday, when the deal was first announced, the stock gained a penny to close at $3.06.

The debentures, which will be issued in the coming days, are convertible into common shares at $3.35 each.

Based in Newton, Mass., Pro-Pharmaceuticals develops treatments for cancer.

Stem Cell stock jumps 31%

Stem Cell Innovations, Inc.'s stock gained 31.25% on Thursday after it split from its parent company, Interferon Sciences, Inc., and merged with Amphioxus Cell Technologies, Inc. and settled two private placements.

The stock gained 5 cents to end at $0.21 (OTCBB: SCLL) Thursday.

On Wednesday, the stock, which had been under the symbol IFSC on the Over-The-Counter Bulletin Board, lost 11.11%, or 2 cents, to close at $0.16.

Looking to the private placements, the company issued a $2.35 million note that is convertible into common shares at $0.03 each.

The company also sold shares of series 1 convertible preferred stock at $300 each for proceeds of $1,463,500. Each preferred is convertible into 10,000 common shares.

Under the terms of the merger, Stem Cell, a wholly owned subsidiary of Interferon Sciences, Inc., merged with Amphioxus. Holders of Amphioxus's common shares were issued series 1 preferreds, which are automatically convertible into 757,821,430 shares of Stem Cell once the additional shares are authorized.

Based in Scotch Plains, N.J., Stem Cell develops a human liver cell line for toxicology testing.

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