Equitable Group closes two deals; Kalahari plans stock sale; nFinanSe wraps $12 million PIPE

By Stephanie N. Rotondo

Portland, Ore., Sept. 1 - Several double-digit PIPEs were either completed or brought to market in Tuesday's private placement arena.

Equitable Group Inc. announced it settled two deals for total proceeds of C$50 million. The company sold preferred shares in a bought-deal and a private placement.

Meanwhile, Kalahari Minerals plc said it was looking to raise £20 million in connection with Extract Resources Ltd.'s A$91 million placement announced Aug. 26. Kalahari will use the funds to maintain its interest in the company.

Among other larger deals of the day, nFinanSe Inc. closed on a more than $12 million private placement of convertible preferred stock. The prepaid credit card provider hopes the funds will improve its financial position.

In the energy sector, Argosy Energy Inc. amended a previously announced financing. The company had originally intended to raise C$5.25 million through a short-term prospectus but changed the terms to make it a bought-deal private placement.

Elsewhere, Yukon-Nevada Gold Corp. closed the final tranche of its private unit sale, bringing in a total of C$4.4 million. Also in the mining world, New World Resource Corp. said it would sell units in its quest to raise C$2.7 million.

Equitable Group closes two deals

Equitable Group, a Toronto-based mortgage lender, completed a C$50 million financing, according to a press release.

The funds were raised in both a bought-deal financing and a private placement. The company sold 2 million non-cumulative series 1 five-year rate reset preferred shares at C$25.00 per share. Of the shares sold, 1.64 million were part of the bought deal led by National Bank financial Inc. and GMP Securities LP.

The bought deal also included an over-allotment option of 200,000 series 1 preferred shares.

The remaining 360,000 preferred shares were sold in the private placement, also at C$25.00 per share. The shares were purchased by Canadian Western Bank.

The series 1 preferreds yield 7.25% annually, and dividends are payable quarterly until September 2014. At that time, the dividend rate will reset every five years at 4.53% plus the Canadian Treasury bond yield.

In addition, holders of the series 1 shares have the option to convert their holdings to series 2 floating-rate preferred shares on Sept. 30, 2014 and then on Sept. 30 every five years thereafter.

The series 2 shares receive a quarterly floating-rate dividend equal to the 90-day Canadian Treasury Bill rate plus 453 basis points.

Equitable Group used the funds to buy back non-cumulative series 1 five-year rate reset preferred shares from its subsidiary, the Equitable Trust Co.

"These transactions support our growth strategy by further strengthening our capital position without dilution to our common shareholders," said Andrew Moor, president and chief executive officer, in the release. "With these offerings completed, we look forward to maintaining Equitable's enhanced balance sheet while profitably deploying capital in markets that offer us excellent potential."

Equitable Group's equity (Toronto: ETC) fell a penny, or 0.05%, to C$18.99.

Kalahari announces share sale

Kalahari Minerals will issue £20 million of ordinary shares through a private placement, the company announced.

The company intends to sell 11.76 million of the shares at 170p per share.

Also, Kalahari said it was planning a £10 million offering of convertible bonds soon.

"The funds raised will be used to satisfy the company's commitments with regard to the proposed A$91 million equity raising announced by Extract Resources Ltd. on [Aug. 26] so as to maintain its circa 40% shareholding in Extract, held through its 100% owned subsidiary Kalahari Uranium Ltd.," the company said in a news release.

"The response to our fund raising, which was oversubscribed, emphasises [sic] that the investment community truly understands the potential of Extract and in particular the Rossing South project, already we believe one of the world's largest uranium deposits.," remarked Kalahari chairman Mark Hohnen in the release. "Kalahari maintains that Extract has the ground and potential to easily deliver a total resource in excess of 500 M lbs U3O8 from the entire Husab Project, which would place it amongst the largest uranium projects in the world.

"With this conviction, both the board and our investors continue to believe that it is imperative for us to maintain our circa 40% shareholding in Extract, to allow us to benefit from the potential for significant value accretion going forward."

Kalahari's stock (London: KAH) closed at 178p on Tuesday. Market capitalization is £355 million.

Kalahari Minerals is a London-based mining, exploration and evaluation company.

nFinanSe wraps $12 million placement

nFinanSe settled a $12.2 million private placement of convertible preferred shares, the company said in a news release.

The deal originally priced at $10.87 million on Aug. 21, and an additional $1.3 million of the preferreds were sold.

All told, the company issued about 2.2 million of the series D convertible preferreds for proceeds of $6.5 million. The company issued another 1.9 million convertible preferred shares in exchange for $5.7 million of existing notes.

Each convertible preferred is convertible into 10 common shares at $0.30 per share.

Also, investors received warrants equal to 36.23 million additional shares at a strike price of $0.01 for five years.

"Through these equity transactions, we have provided significant cash and equity to the company and substantially improved our financial position," said Jerry R. Welch, chairman and CEO, in the release. "The prepaid card industry is still in the early stages of development, and maintaining a solid balance sheet will be important for our company as we participate in the industry's growth."

nFinanSe's equity (OTCBB: NFSE) ended unchanged at $0.40 on Tuesday. Market capitalization is $3.82 million.

nFinanSe is a Bradenton, Fla.-based financial services company and provider of stored value and prepaid credit cards.

Argosy to issue special warrants

Argosy Energy is planning a C$5.25 million private placement of special warrants.

The company will sell 4.2 million of the warrants at C$1.25 each. The deal also includes a C$750,000 greenshoe.

Upon closing, buyers of the warrants can convert their holdings to common stock at no additional fee.

Management, directors and certain insiders have agreed to purchase 2 million of the warrants.

Argosy had previously planned to raise the funds via a short-term prospectus, according to an Aug. 26 press release.

Proceeds will be used for capital programs at the company's Claresholm, Pearce, Saxon and Ansel/Edson sites in Alberta.

Argosy's shares (Toronto: GSY) gained 3 cents, or 2.38%, to C$1.29. Market capitalization is C$7.38 million.

Argosy Energy is a Calgary, Alta.-based junior oil and gas company.

Yukon seals C$4 million deal

Yukon-Nevada Gold pocketed C$4.11 million from its non-brokered private placement of units.

The deal originally priced Aug. 10. At that time, the company had already placed C$1.88 million of the units, and the remaining C$2.22 million closed Sept. 1.

In total, the company sold 41.05 million of the units at C$0.10 per unit. Each unit contained one common share and one warrant, exercisable at C$0.125 for 30 months.

Nicole Sanches, investor relations manager of Yukon-Nevada, told Prospect News that investors had reacted positively to the deal and that the company was pleased with the outcome.

Still, "we would prefer to be cash flow positive from our commercial business instead of raising capital all the time," she noted.

But the funds will help the company work toward that goal, as proceeds will be used to restart mill operations at Yukon-Nevada's Jerritt Canyon Mine.

Yukon-Nevada's shares (Toronto: YNG) dropped C$0.025, or 20.00%, to C$0.10. Market capitalization is C$41.6 million.

Yukon-Nevada Gold is a Vancouver, B.C.-based mineral exploration company.

New World plans unit sale

New World Resource arranged a C$2.7 million placement of equity units, the company said in a press release.

The Vancouver, B.C.-based mineral exploration company will sell 10 million units holding one common share and one half-share warrant. Each unit will sell at C$0.27, and each whole one-year warrant is exercisable at C$0.40.

The funds raised in the transaction will go toward furthering the company's lithium initiative, as well as to finance expected costs at its properties.

New World's stock (TSX Venture: NW) declined 1 cent, or 3.57%, to C$0.27. Market capitalization is C$5.42 million.

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