Our roundup of Canadian small-caps of between $100-million and $2.5-billion in market capitalization making news and on the move today.
A war of words has broken out between Detour Gold Corp. (DGC-T) and Paulson & Co., with the Canadian miner accusing the New York-based hedge fund of making misleading statements about it – and potentially breaking securities laws.
In a press release on Wednesday, Paulson said that Detour has been approached by a “major mining company” interested in buying it. According to Paulson, Detour’s chief executive officer Michael Kenyon wrote to the hedge fund, saying the junior miner had been approached by a potential acquirer, but that Detour would only sign a confidentiality agreement if both the company and Paulson agreed not to push for an overhaul of the board of directors. Paulson said it has no connection with the company in question.
“Statements made by Paulson in its press release are simply false and mislead the market,” Detour wrote in a subsequent release of its own on Wednesday. “It is, in fact, Paulson’s own actions that led them to come into possession of material non-public information from another party.”
Detour also said it has made a complaint to the Ontario Securities Commission about the alleged misleading statements and said it believes Paulson’s actions constitute “serious misconduct under securities laws.”
-Niall McGee
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Aritzia Inc. (ATZ-T) announced a $100-million secondary offering of subordinate voting shares. It said the selling shareholders have a deal to sell six million subordinate voting shares to a syndicate of underwriters for $16.55 each. Aritzia will not receive any proceeds from the offering.
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Maricann Group Inc. (MARI-C) announced a "best efforts" private placement. It has an agreement with Canaccord Genuity Corp. and GMP Securities L.P., as joint bookrunners and co-lead agents, to sell up to $40-million of units at a price of $1.60 each. The company said each unit will consist of one common share and one common share purchase warrant that will be exercisable to acquire one common share of the company for two years at an exercise price of $2.50 each. The net proceeds will be used for working capital and general corporate purposes, the company stated.
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TransAlta Corp. (TA-T; TAC-N) says it will retire the "currently mothballed" Sundance Unit 2, effective July 31, "due to its shorter useful life relative to other units, age, size, and the capital requirements needed to return the unit to service."
“Our strategy is underpinned by providing the lowest power price to consumers and we have determined that this unit does not meet that objective,” said CEO Dawn Farrell in a release. “The retirement is consistent with our transition strategy to clean power by 2025 and does not change our plans for converting the remaining four units at Sundance to gas generation.”
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The Green Organic Dutchman Holdings Ltd. (TGOD-T) says it plans to complete a spinoff transaction which sees it distribute a dividend that will be a warrant in a new corporation that will buy and develop "worldwide opportunities."
"TGOD has met with emerging cannabis companies from around the globe and acquired a deep understanding, including proprietary knowledge, of all facets of the cannabis industry," the company stated. "These companies are not considered core assets in TGOD’s business plan, and accordingly, they have not been pursued to date. However, the company now wishes to monetize this unique situation for the benefit of TGOD shareholders. After consultation with multiple financial institutions, TGOD Acquisitions plans to execute a series of staged financings and acquisitions leading to a late 2018 target IPO date."
The company will distribute to its shareholders a warrant to acquire a TGOD acquisitions unit for 50 cents. Each unit will consist of one share plus an additional warrant for the investor. This additional warrant will be triggered by a subsequent financing to occur following the initial offering, the company stated.
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Emerald Health Therapeutics, Inc. (EMH-X) says its plans to acquire the remaining shares of Northern Vine Canada Inc. owned by Abattis Bioceuticals Corp. (ATT-C) for $2-million in cash and $4-million in Emerald stock. The transaction increases Emerald’s ownership of Northern Vine too 100 per cent from 65 per cent.
“The acquisition of Northern Vine allows us to leverage its dealer license and research and development facility to advance our research plans to develop cannabis formulations supporting new products for both recreational purposes and to treat a broad spectrum of human conditions and diseases,” said Chris Wagner, CEO of Emerald. “The dealer license would also enable Emerald to cost-effectively source non-dried-flower cannabis products from suppliers in other countries.”
The agreement also includes a milestone payment in the form of common shares of Emerald valued at $4-million if Northern Vine and/or Emerald receive gross revenue of $10-million from the sale of products or services introduced by Abattis, the company said.
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Peregrine Diamonds Ltd. (PGD-T) says it's being acquired by De Beers Canada Inc. for 24 cents per share, or a total equity value of approximately $107-million. The transaction represents a 50-per-cent premium to Peregrine’s share price of 16 cents on July 18
The board recommends the offer and the company says all directors and officers, including Eric Friedland and Robert Friedlan — the company’s two major shareholders who collectively control 42.8 per cent of the issued and outstanding common shares — plan to vote in support of the arrangement.
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Diversified Royalty Corp. (DIV-T) reported preliminary second-quarter results for the Mr. Lube, Air Miles and Sutton brands.
It said Mr. Lube Canada Limited Partnership generated same-store-sales-growth of 3.2 per cent compared to growth of 5.5 per cent for the same period last year. DIV expects to report that aggregate royalty income and management fees of $3.8-million were generated from Mr. Lube in the latest quarter, an increase of $300,000 from a year earlier.
It expects to report that royalty income of $2-million was generated from the Air Miles licenses and royalty income and management fees of $1-million were generated from Sutton, representing a 2-per-cent increase over last year.
“Mr. Lube continues to deliver strong operating results, while Sutton is performing as expected," stated DIV CEO Sean Morrison. "We are encouraged by the positive trends in the engagement of sponsors and collectors in the Air Miles program ... . "
DIV expects to release its financial statements the second quarter on Aug. 9.