The building housing the headquarters of Home Capital Group is seen in downtown Toronto.CHRIS HELGREN/Reuters
Our roundup of Canadian small-caps of between $100-million and $2.5-billion in market capitalization making news and on the move today.
Home Capital Group Inc. (HCG-T) said the Ontario Superior Court of Justice issued an order on Wednesday "certifying an action as against the company and certain of its former officers as a class action for settlement purposes only."
It said the class includes shareholders that bought stock from Nov. 5, 2014, through to and including July 10, 2015.
"The Court ordered that any class member who wishes to exclude him, her or itself from this settlement, must do so by submitting an opt-out election on or before Aug. 8," the company said.
It said the settlement is part of a global settlement to resolve the action and related enforcement proceeding by the OSC.
"In order for the settlement to take effect, there must be final approval by the Court of the settlement of the class action and by the OSC of the settlement of the regulatory proceeding."
It said the hearing to approve the OSC settlement is scheduled for Aug. 9 and a hearing to approve the class action settlement is scheduled for Aug. 21.
In a separate release, Home Capital updated its financial position as of June 27. It said aggregate available liquidity and credit capacity stood at approximately $1.48-billion compared to $1.43-billion the day before and $1.11-billion on June 14.
Its Home Trust High-Interest Savings Account deposit balances stood at approximately $112.1-million compared to $111.8-million the day before and $103.9-million on June 14.
Total GIC deposits stood at approximately $12.11-billion compared to $12.08-billion the day before and $12.06-billion on June 14.
On Thursday, Home Capital said elevated expenses of $233-million before tax would reduce its operating results for the second quarter of the year, which the company plans to release in August.
The bulk of the costs stem from the costly $2-billion emergency line of credit that Home Capital secured in late April through a deal led by the Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan. Home Capital agreed to pay 10-per-cent interest on the drawn portion of the credit line and 2.5-per-cent interest on unused balances, as well as an up-front, non-refundable fee of $100-million to secure the loan.
Home Capital said that this lifeline resulted in $210-million in increased costs in the quarter.
"The serious liquidity event that occurred late in April required the company to take quick and dramatic steps, liquidating assets and arranging a rescue financing facility," said Robert Blowes, interim chief financial officer, in a statement.
The company also said that $8-million in costs would be recorded due to its settlements reached with both a key regulator and in a class-action lawsuit filed earlier this year against the lender. These costs are what the company expects to absorb after getting some money back from insurance.
-- Jacqueline Nelson and Brenda Bouw
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Input Capital Corp. (INP-X) says it has received a grain dealer licence from the Canadian Grain Commission and is now licenced and bonded by the Commission.
"As our streaming portfolio grows and evolves, Input is becoming more and more like a different kind of grain company – one that does not own physical assets," said CEO Doug Emsley. "This evolution both required and made it advantageous for Input to become licenced and bonded by the Canadian Grain Commission, increasing Input's credibility and profile within the Western Canadian ag marketplace. The licence provides an additional level of assurance to farmers and other industry participants that Input's systems, processes and documentation meet industry standards, as well as the certainty of receiving payment for final crop sales that is offered by the bonding process."
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Supreme Pharmaceuticals Inc. (FIRE-X) says its wholly-owned operating subsidiary, 7ACRES, has been granted its permission to sell under the Access to Cannabis for Medical Purposes Regulations.
The stock was halted in late-day trading on Wednesday and closed up 8 per cent to $1.37.
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StorageVault Canada Inc. (SVI-T) is raising $135-million in a bought-deal offering.
It has entered into an agreement with a syndicate of underwriters to sell about 51 million shares; including 32 million shares from treasury and about 18.9 million common shares sold on a secondary basis from SaskWorks Venture Fund Inc. and APEX II Investment Fund Ltd. Partnership, each of which is managed by PFM Capital Inc.
The syndicate of underwriters is led by National Bank Financial Inc. and GMP Securities L.P.
The shares will be offered at a price of $2.65 each.
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Alio Gold Inc. (ALO-T; ALO-N) is raising $50-milion in a bought-deal financing.
It has an agreement with a syndicate of underwriters led by Cormark Securities Inc. and Clarus Securities Inc. to purchase 8 million units of the company at a price of $6.25 each.
The net proceeds will be used by the company to advance its Ana Paula project in Mexico and for general corporate purposes.
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Opsens Inc. (OPS-T) reported third-quarter revenues of $4.9-million compared to $2.1-million a year ago. Analysts were expecting revenue of $4.5-million.
Its net loss was $1.8-million or 2 cents per share compared to a loss of $3.1-million or 5 cents for the same period a year earlier.
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Lithium X Energy Corp. (LIX-X) is buying Aberdeen International Inc.'s remaining 50-per-cent interest in Potasio y Litio de Argentina S.A., which controls 100 per cent of the Sof the los Angeles Project.
It will pay Aberdeen $5-million in cash and issue 6 million Lithium X Shares.
"In addition, if within three years following the closing, the Lithium X Shares have a volume weighted average trading price of $3 or more during a period of 20 consecutive trading days, the company will issue to Aberdeen an additional 3 million Lithium X shares," the company said in a release.
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Street Capital Group Inc. (SCB-T) says it has hired Duncan Hannay as president and CEO of Street Capital and Street Capital Bank of Canada.
Mr. Hannay will start Sept. 1 following the retirement of Ed Gettings. Mr. Hannay is currently the acting chief operating officer of Finastra, a role he assumed following the merger of D+H and Misys, the company said.
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Callidus Capital Corp. (CBL-T) says its process of soliciting proposals to privatize the company is "taking longer than originally expected."
As an alternative to proposals received, the company said it has retained the services of a placement agent and advisory firm "with experienced personnel dedicated to raising capital for alternative investments, including private debt funds," which the company said may result in greater value than other proposals.
Catalyst Capital Group Inc., which manages funds that own approximately 68 per cent of the issued and outstanding shares of Callidus, "remains committed to completing a transaction on terms consistent with the previously published valuation range of $18 to $22 per share," it said in a release.
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The Hydropothecary Corporation (THCX-X) reported third-quarter revenue of $1.2-million up from $617,000.
Its net loss was $11.8-million or 17 cents per share compared to a loss of $401,000 and a penny per share a year earlier.
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Endeavour Mining Corp. (EDV-T) says it's buying Avnel Gold Mining Ltd. (AVK-T) in a deal valued at $159-million.
The terms of the transaction have been unanimously approved by the boards of both companies, according to a release.
Avnel holds an 80 per-cent interest in the Kalana Gold project in Mali and holds exploration permits in the surrounding area.
Under the terms of the proposed agreement, Avnel shareholders will receive 0.0187 of an Endeavour share for each Avnel share held.
The companies said that represents a value of 42 cents per share based on Endeavour's five-day volume-weighted average price.
That's a 48-per-cent premium to Avnel's closing share price on Wednesday.
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Slate Retail REIT (SRT.UN-T) says it's buying Mapleridge Center in the Minneapolis-St. Paul Metropolitan area for $13.4-million (U.S).
It said the property is 89-per-cent occupied and anchored by a Rainbow Foods.
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Clairvest Group Inc. (CVG-T) provided an update on the previously announced regulatory issues with its investment in Head InfoTech India Pvt. Ltd.
It said Head InfoTech has resumed operations for customers outside of Telangana after a Court "made an oral observation" on June 28 that serving customers outside Telangana isn't a violation of an ordinance issued by the state government on June 17.
The ordinance made it illegal to operate an online gaming platform within the state "providing services to customers within the state and operating such a business within the state serving customers outside the state," the company said.
Revenue from customers outside of Telangana represented approximately 60 per cent of Head InfoTech's overall revenue, according to a company release.
Clairvest said Head InfoTech, along with other online rummy companies in India, are challenging the ordinance in the Indian courts.
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Tio Networks Corp. (TNC-X) which is being taken over by PayPal, reported third-quarter revenue of $23.8 million up from nearly $18 million a year earlier.
Net income was $78,000 versus $1.6 million a year earlier.
We had a solid quarter and continued to improve in our all-important *cash flow metric which has been a key focus for management" said Hamed Shahbazi, chairman and CEO of TIO. "We thank the shareholders for their support of the PayPal transaction as we had over 99.7-per-cent support as part of our shareholder approval process. We are making good progress towards finalizing the transaction and are excited about joining the PayPal family."
The company said it expects the acquisition by Paypal to be completed later this year, subject to certain closing conditions.
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