Traders Cafe with Zak Mir: Challenger Acquisitions, Cloudbreak Discovery, Dukemount Capital, i3 Energy, San Leon Energy, Seed Innovations

For those wondering whether SPAC mania may be over, there was reassuring news from Challenger Acquisitions (CHAL). It said that the Supreme Court of British Columbia has approved the Plan of Arrangement in respect of the acquisition of Cindrigo Energy Limited by Challenger that was approved by shareholders of Cindrigo last month. It is anticipated that the reverse takeover of Cindrigo, a renewable energy projects group, will complete before the end of this month by Challenger.

Also in the energy space, long dated income provider Dukemount Capital (DKE) said that it is to pursue alternative funding options for its Joint Venture with HSKB for Environmental Energy Projects. This news came in the wake of a General Meeting in which shareholders voted against an equity line of credit of up to £6.5m. The funding would have provided Dukemount with a facility, of which it had expected to draw down £3m over the next six months, beginning with a tranche of £1.2m. The remaining £3.5m would have been be drawn down, if required. Shares of Dukemount rose 10%.

Seed Innovations (SEED), the company formerly known as FastForward Innovations, delivered its final results for the year ending March. This showed a trio of highlights which underlined what investors expect investment companies to do – provide significant and frequent liquidity events. As far as Seed has been concerned there have been a trio of highlights: Kanabo Group Plc, where a 223% return on investment was realised; Cellular Goods Plc where a 4.14 times return was realised; and a significant return on investment from the sale of EMMAC Life Sciences to Curaleaf recording a profit of £1.9 million, 1.86 times the original investment. It may be that Seed’s quick exits from the first two situations are something that some existing shareholders wish they had emulated as well.

Another trading week and another operational update from fast growing independent oil and gas company i3 Energy (I3E). It said drilling operations on the second well in the Marten Hills Clearwater drilling programme have been completed. Eight horizontal lateral sections were drilled from this wellbore with operations having progressed on time and on budget. All laterals drilled have encountered a clean upper shoreface sandstone, with porosities ranging from 24% to 27%, and oil has been evidenced throughout via oil shows on cuttings. The company said that this is the first phase of drilling operations on this acreage and following evaluation of log and production data from these wells, it will program the second phase of drilling which will target an additional seven possible locations.

There was another update from oil and gas group San Leon Energy (SLE), this time in relation to the Oza Field, Nigeria. San Leon said it has entered into a conditional subscription agreement with Decklar Petroleum which entitles it to purchase $7,5m of 10% unsecured subordinated loan notes of Decklar Petroleum and 15% of the enlarged share capital of Decklar Petroleum. Decklar Petroleum and San Leon have also entered into an option agreement which entitles San Leon to purchase an additional $7,5m of loan notes and further Decklar Petroleum shares representing an additional 15% of the enlarged share capital of Decklar Petroleum.

Stock market newbie Cloudbreak Discovery (CDL) and Alianza Minerals announced the acquisition of the first project generated from their newly formed Strategic Alliance. The Klondike Property, located in Colorado, United States, consists of 72 Bureau of Land Management claims. The Alliance will focus on copper projects in the southwestern US, with the two companies anticipating this to be the first of many projects. They said they will continue to identify new copper exploration opportunities to acquire and advance with the intent of finding strong partners to move the projects forward.