LNG negotiates C$25 million deal; Keyuan concludes $23.15 million; VIST plans $5.15 million

By Devika Patel

Knoxville, Tenn., April 23 - Friday saw a small number of private placements, but the deals that priced or settled were rather large. Most notably, LNG Energy Ltd. said it planned to sell C$25 million of its special warrants via agent Paradigm Capital Inc.

Meanwhile Keyuan International Group Ltd. said it raised $23.15 million from a private placement of units, which consist of various securities after completing a reverse merger with Silver Pearl Enterprises, Inc.

Also, Monmouth Real Estate Investment Corp. settled a $30 million registered direct offering of stock, the proceeds of which it will use to fund future acquisitions, and VIST Financial Corp. said it has arranged a $5.15 million private placement of stock, which the company believes will result in an increased book value per share.

LNG plans $25 million

Oil and gas explorer LNG Energy arranged a C$25 million commercially reasonable private placement of special warrants through a syndicate led by Paradigm Capital Inc. and including GMP Securities LP. There is a C$5 million greenshoe for the deal, which is expected to settle May 19.

The special warrants will be convertible into common shares.

Proceeds will be used for further exploration and development expenditures, working capital and general corporate purposes.

The company announced Monday that it has entered into an agreement with InterOil Corp. to explore a seismic prospect in Papua New Guinea jointly. The program includes acquiring and interpreting data from the 27-kilometer north-south line that is straddling the boundary between the two companies' drilling properties, which is believed to contain a magnetic anomaly.

"We are excited by the apparent size and reef prospectivity of this anomaly," LNG's president, Dave Afseth, said in a press release.

"The opportunity to work with InterOil and build off their proprietary depth of knowledge in maturing a HRAM & Gravity defined reef prospect that straddles our PPL boundaries with 2D seismic is a very positive development for LNG. We are moving forward to rapidly mature this prospect in conjunction with InterOil."

The Vancouver, B.C., company's shares (TSX Venture: LNG) decreased 3.03%, or 1 cent, Friday to close at C$0.32 apiece.

Keyuan gets C$20.59 million

China's Keyuan, a manufacturer and supplier of petrochemical products, announced the completion of a $23.15 million private placement of units, which closed alongside the company's reverse merger with Silver Pearl.

"The successful completion of our merger and private placement transaction for Keyuan are important accomplishments for several reasons," Keyuan's chairman, chief executive officer and president Chunfeng Tao stated.

"China's demand for petrochemical and petrochemical intermediates has outpaced supply in recent years leading to record contract signings and backlog for our various products.

"Our facility expansion to include a pre-treatment facility, additional storage capacity and an asphalt production facility is a significant growth opportunity, and we intend to leverage our capacity to deliver industry leading products for our customers in the PRC," he added.

Due to China's growing demand for refined petrochemical products, attributable to the country's economic growth and under-developed domestic supply capacity, customer order requests for 2010 have exceeded the company's current annual production capacity, Keyuan said in a press release.

In order to grow Keyuan's business to meet the increasing market demands, the company plans to expand its manufacturing capacity to include a raw material pre-treatment facility, additional storage capacity and an asphalt production facility.

In the placement, the company sold 661,562 units of 661,562 ordinary common shares, 5,954,058 series A preferred shares, 661,562 class A warrants and 661,562 class B warrants. The preferreds are convertible into common stock and the class A warrants are exercisable at $4.50; the class B warrants are exercisable at $5.25.

Company shares (OTCBB: SVPE) dropped 3.89%, or $2.61, closing the week at $64.57 per share on Friday.

Monmouth: $30 million

Monmouth gave further details about a $30 million registered direct offering of stock that priced on April 20 and settled on Friday.

The real estate investment trust based in Freehold, N.J., sold 4 million common shares at $7.50 per share via agent CSCA Capital Advisors, LLC.

Proceeds will be used to purchase additional properties in the ordinary course of business and for general corporate purposes.

"We are pleased to announce the closing of this successful transaction," executive vice president Michael P. Landy said in a press release.

"The transaction represents a further step toward our goal of increasing institutional visibility and sponsorship of our company and broadening our access to growth capital. We anticipate using the proceeds from this offering to continue to take advantage of attractive acquisition opportunities we see in our target markets."

Company shares (Nasdaq: MNRTA) were unchanged at $7.78 apiece on Friday.

VIST arranges $5.15 million

VIST said it will conduct a $5.15 million private placement of stock with Emerald Advisers, Inc. and Battlefield Capital Management. The company said it was pleased with the amount and believes the financing will prove to be of value to shareholders.

"While our board of directors and senior management have full confidence in the financial strength of VIST Financial, we believe the ability to raise $5.2 million in new capital with seasoned bank investors sends a positive message about our loan loss reserve levels and capital in today's economic environment," president and chief executive officer Robert D. Davis said in a press release.

"The modest capital raise allows us to take advantage of market opportunities, anticipates new regulatory capital guidelines and provides us with a capital cushion if the economy does not improve as expected."

The financial services holding company aims to sell 644,000 common shares at $8.00 per share to the two investors.

"Although we had indications of interest to purchase an additional 600,000 to 900,000 shares at $8.00, we declined to increase our shares outstanding," executive vice president and chief financial officer Edward C. Barrett added.

"We believe it would not have been in the best interest of our existing shareholders to unnecessarily dilute their ownership at the current stock price.

"We anticipate by year end 2010 this placement coupled with the sale of our interest in First HSA, LLC announced on April 19 should result in an increase in our tangible book value per share and only slight earnings per share dilution," Barrett concluded.

The Wyomissing, Pa., company's shares (Nasdaq: VIST) fell 1.11% Friday, or 10 cents, closing at $8.90 per share.

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