Hi EC:
Thanks for the reply.
Yes, indeed,... it is a very difficult market environment in which to raise dough for "juniors".
Over the years, I have been fortunate enough to have raised $140.0 M to $150.0 M for tech-based juniors (in $1.0 M to $2.0 M early stage traunches only), so I have lived the "rags-riches" environment in which early stage companies exist "up close and personal". Also fortunate is the fact that the company is already public and I have longstanding relationships with some reasonably decent underwriters. That said, I can recall very few periods in which it has been so difficult to raise dough.
The ranks of Canadian underwriters who are still able to do junior deals has shrunk dramatically as the banks have corralled them and forced them to the "managed-product-only" diet (I know, I know,... dumber than beach sand, but a fact nevertheless). Also cluttering the landscape are the many junior deals that were financed modestly two to three years ago, only to promptly die of financial starvation as the markets flopped.
What is surprising to me is that even with $1100. gold, a desire to finance junior explorers has not yet emerged. Oh well, a long time ago, I learned that few things succeed without tenacity and that is alive and well at this end. (g)
Unfortunately, my list of financially-strong pals has always been short. That is what one gets for growing up in the east end of a steel-producing town. Now if you need someone to get with the programme and pay back loans,.... I may have the guys you need at hand. (VBG)
Best,
Earlie |
