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by Stockwatch Business Reporter

The TSX Venture Exchange slipped a fraction to 626.19 Monday. James McRoberts's first capital pool shell, Haw Capital Corp. (HAW: suspended), plans to acquire a Montreal food delivery company called Golo Inc. for the shell's qualifying transaction. The shell, which has 13.54 million shares issued, will issue 113,235,293 shares to its target's shareholders. Among those shareholders will be the subscribers to a $6.75-million private placement, at 17 cents, which Golo aims to complete.

First-time shell-maker Mr. McRoberts, an e-commerce consultant in Calgary, is not unfamiliar with Montreal's tech start-up sector. In 2008, he helped Joel Leonoff of Montreal to reacquire Optimal Payments Inc., a payment processing firm that Mr. Leonoff founded in 1997 and then sold in 2003. Mr. Leonoff and Mr. McRoberts each paid for half of the $7-million (U.S.) reacquisition price in 2008. Mr. McRoberts then became Optimal's chairman and 50-per-cent owner, while Mr. Leonoff managed the company as its president, chief executive officer and remaining 50-per-cent owner. Just three years later, Mr. McRoberts and Mr. Leonoff sold Optimal to a London AIM-listed payment processing firm, Neovia Financial PLC, for a pleasing $50-million (U.S.). Mr. Leonoff joined Neovia, but Mr. McRoberts did not.

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