James Skippen, CEO of Wi-LANJonathan Hayward/The Globe and Mail
Technology licensing company Wi-Lan Inc. fell as much as 7 per cent to $6.53 early Thursday after saying Wednesday it would make an unsolicited all-cash offer to buy fellow Canadian patent company Mosaid Technologies Inc. for about $480-million. Wi-Lan said it would pay $38 a share for Mosaid, a 20 per cent premium to its Wednesday closing price of $31.65. Mosaid has since added a quarter to its value and struck a decade high of $39.98. Mosaid this morning recommended that shareholders take no action until shareholders have received further communications from Mosaid's board of directors.
Mountain Province Diamonds fell around 4 per cent to $4.76 early Thursday amid reports it is in talks with a major Canadian bank to finance its share of the development of the Gahcho Kue diamond mine in the country's Northwest Territories.
COM DEV International Ltd. fell 3 per cent and moved closer to a year low of $1.61 early Thursday despite saying its exactEarth data services subsidiary Wednesday successfully launched two satellites, the fourth and fifth spacecraft in what's planned to be a six-satellite constellation. exactEarth provides collision-avoidance and tracking services for the shipping industry, using satellite-based automatic identification system technology. The unit generated about 4 per cent of COM DEV's overall revenue, providing just under $2.1-million to the parent company during the quarter ended June 30. The two vehicles were built by SpaceQuest Ltd. with exactEarth scheduled to take ownership in about three months following completion of in-orbit testing.
Pure Industrial Real Estate Trust , more commonly known as PIRET, purchased a fully leased, single-tenant industrial property in Caledon, Ont., paying $22.3-million. The building is home to Kingspan Insulated Panels Ltd., which manufactures insulated panels used in industrial and institutional construction. PIRET funded the purchase with proceeds from a bought-deal financing that closed May 17 and a $13.9-million first mortgage maturing in five years. PIRET now owns and manages over 4.1 million square feet of leasable space, making 10 deals worth nearly $220-million since the beginning of the year.
MTY Food Group announced that its wholly-owned subsidiary MTY Tiki Ming Enterprises Inc. has entered into a binding agreement to acquire the assets of Mr. Submarine Limited for total consideration of $23-million to be paid in cash. The company said the acquisition is a natural extension to its core business and is expected to strengthen the its leadership in the quick service restaurant industry in Canada by reaching a new category of customers while complementing the offering to its current customer base through its existing banners.
Armtec Infrastructure Inc. said an affiliate of Brookfield Asset Management Inc. plans to waive remaining due diligence requirements under a loan agreement between the companies, clearing the way for a $35-million second tranche of the loan. Armtec now can draw up to $125-million under the loan agreement, subject only to completion of standard closing documentation. Armtec intends to draw on the new facility to full repay lenders owed from its existing senior facility.
Prism Medical Ltd. said its U.K. subsidiary has been awarded a pair of contracts from Anchor Trust, one of the largest operators of care homes in Great Britain. The contracts began in July for three-year terms with options for two additional 12-month periods. One contract calls for Prism U.K. to supply and install assisted bathing equipment with second having the company install mobile and ceiling track hoists, stand aids and slings at Anchor properties throughout England. Financial terms were not disclosed
Coalcorp Mining Inc. said it has hired Charles Entrekin, formerly operations chief at Titanium Metals Corp. TIE-N, as its new chief executive officer and board chairman. The company said Entrekin has led restructurings or turnarounds at several mining and metals firms. He rejoined Titanium Metals in January 2008 after holding various management and technical positions until 2002. He voluntarily left the company in April 2008 and has been working with several startups as a director and consultant since that time, according to SEC records.
Wilmington Capital Management Inc. acquired a 50 per cent interest in NCI Management Ltd., a privately held investment management company based in Calgary focused on early stage opportunities in energy, energy services, real estate and special situations. Wilmington is issuing an undisclosed number of its Class A common shares to Net Capital Inc., which still holds the remaining ownership stake in NCI. The purchase agreement allows Wilmington to acquire the rest of NCI before Dec. 31, 2016, based on a pre-agreed formula.
Capella Resources Ltd. , which has been trading close to a year low 7 cents, released an updated resource estimate for its Lajitas gold project in Chile, which includes an inferred resource estimate of 516,000 troy ounces, based on 35.4 million tons grading 0.45 grams gold per ton of ore. Metallurgical tests for the Lajitas Project announced last year indicated gold recoveries of between 63 per cent to 73 per cent using conventional cyanidation. Heap leach techniques also may be feasible. Additional drilling is now planned to expand the resource area.
NEMI Northern Energy & Mining Inc. is up nearly 30 per cent and closing in on year highs in early trading this morning after announcing a deal last night to sell its stake in the Peace River Coal Limited Partnership to Anglo Coal Canada Ltd. for $73-million. NEMI, which last year had a similar deal with Anglo for the Peace River partnership only to withdraw it in May, currently holds a 12.2 per cent stake in the mine.
Labopharm Inc. – a takeover target of Paladin Labs Inc. – announced plans to soon eliminate the sales team at Angelini Labopharm LLC, the company's joint venture with Gruppo Angelini marketing Oleptro antidepressant drug in the United States. Labopharm and Angelini previously announced plans to restructure their partnership with Labopharm transfering its 50 per cent ownership in Angelini Labopharm and the U.S. license for Oleptro to Angelini in exchange for a 5 per cent royalty on net sales above $10-million (U.S.) each quarter. The companies said Angelini Labopharm will maintain sufficient resources to make the drug available for U.S. sales.