This item is part of Stockwatch's value added news feed and is only available to Stockwatch subscribers.

Here is a sample of this item:

by Stockwatch Business Reporter

The TSX Venture Exchange closed up 3.28 points to 796.48 Friday, ending the week up 4.50 points. Three capital pool shells have listed: Thomas O'Neill's first shell called Sherpa Holdings Corp. (SHR: $0.10), Robert Meister's first shell called Cabernet Capital Corp. (CAB: $0.10) and Peter Chen's first shell called Inceptus Capital Ltd. (ICI: halted). Neither Sherpa nor Cabernet has traded yet, but this is not unusual for shells. As for Inceptus, when it listed yesterday, it was immediately halted pending exchange approval of the closing of its initial public offering. It has now received this approval and will begin trading on Tuesday.

Mr. O'Neill's Sherpa Holdings sold a $335,550 IPO at 10 cents, through PI Financial Corp. It also sold a $110,000 private placement at 10 cents. There were six subscribers, including four pro groups and no insiders. Only insiders are required to identify themselves as subscribers to private placements, so we have none of the useful information that is now being hidden from investors, that is, the names of a company's financial backers. Mr. O'Neill provides life insurance consulting and estate planning services through his Vancouver company called Thomas O'Neill & Associates Inc. He also offers the same services through PI Financial's life insurance and estate planning subsidiary, PI Financial Services Corp. Among Sherpa's escrow shareholders are six employees of PI Financial Corp. They are Mike Marosits, Marc De Cotiis, Jeremiah Katz, Blake Corbet, Dan Barnholden and Tim Graham, each holding between 50,000 and 200,000 escrowed shares.

The remainder is available to Stockwatch subscribers.
Sign-up for a FREE 30-day Stockwatch subscription and SEE NO ADS