Markets

PIPEs for Smoking Pot (Stocks)

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The smoke furling off of joints in a growing number of states and the federal government’s increasingly laissez faire posture concerning pot’s illegality are juicing momentum for a crop of issuers looking to take advantage of the budding marijuana industry. Despite unease about ex-convicts involved in some companies, the undeniable capacity for rampant fraud, and federal government’s ultimate reaction – under federal law, marijuana use for any purpose is still illegal – publicly traded marijuana issuers have begun to find an audience among investors. Eight companies linked to the marijuana trade have raised $31.6 million in nine equity private placements since the beginning of 2013, according to PlacementTracker, a division of Sagient Research. Over the same period, Seattle-based plant extract supplier Plandai Biotechnology (PLPL) and Irvine, Calif.-based indoor agriculture equipment supplier Terra Tech Corp. (TRTC) agreed to equity lines with potential drawdowns of $15.3 million and $5 million, respectively.

News

Hunter Wise’s McClory, Dunkerley and Trobe Join Burnham Securities’ New SoCal Office

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Dan McClory, Hugh Dunkerley and Julian Trobe have left Hunter Wise Financial Group to join Burnham Securities and open the firm’s new office in Irvine, Calif. McClory and Dunkerley are managing directors, and Trobe is a vice president in the equity capital markets group at Burnham. McClory was Head of Equity Capital Markets at Hunter Wise for ten years. His equity capital markets teams have ranked among the top ten agents in the equity private placement market, and have completed transactions for clients listed on the London Stock Exchange, NASDAQ, NYSE, Toronto Stock Exchange, the Stock Exchange of Hong Kong, Irish Stock Exchange and OTC Markets. Dunkerley was a Hunter Wise director for nine years.

Executive Moves

Growth Capital Executive Moves

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Maxim Group Hires Eric Cheng, John Shaw and John Fletcher
Maxim Group announced Eric Cheng is joining the firm as senior managing director and head of Healthcare Investment Banking. Maxim also announced John Shaw III has joined as a managing director. Prior to joining Maxim, Shaw was a senior officer in equity capital markets at Deutsche Bank from 2007-2012, where he was responsible for managing the bank’s special purpose acquisition company practice globally. The investment bank also announced John Fletcher has joined as a managing director. Prior to joining Maxim, Fletcher spent more than 17 years at Brean Capital, most recently as a managing director and co-head of Investment Banking with a focus on oil and gas companies.

Deals

SpendSmart Payments Raises $3.4M in Conv Preferred Deal at 16% Discount

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SpendSmart Payments Company (The) (SSPC) announced that it has raised $3,393,270 in a Convertible Preferred Stock transaction. The fixed conversion price of the Convertible Preferred Stock is $0.75 per share, an approximate 15.72% discount to the market price ($0.89) of SSPC at deal announcement. A series of 4,524,396 60-Month Warrants with an exercise price of $1.10 per share (23.6% premium) was issued to the investors in this transaction. Issuer counsel was Ruskin, Moscou, Faltischek, PC and investor counsel was Sichenzia Ross Friedman Ference, LLP. The transaction closed on February 11, 2014.