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by Stockwatch Business Reporter

The TSX Venture Exchange added 3.98 points to 1,019.34 Wednesday. Tomorrow, Alfredo De Lucrezia's first capital pool shell, Manera Capital Corp. (MEA), will list on the TSX-V, making it the third capital pool shell to list this month and the 11th this year. By this time last year, 27 capital pool shells had already listed. Tomorrow, there will be 158 capital pool shells on the exchange, of which 50 are halted, 37 are suspended and 71 are trading and in need of a qualifying transaction.

PI Financial Corp. sold Manera's $350,000 initial public offering of 3.5 million shares at 10 cents. The firm is now the leader among the brokerages listing capital pool shells this year, having sold three of this year's meagre 11 capital pool IPOs. In second place we have Raymond James Ltd. and M Partners Inc., each of which has listed two.

Manera has four million shares in escrow, of which 3.15 million belong to the shell's 47-year-old founder and president, Mr. De Lucrezia. He is a North Vancouver businessman who used to work in investor relations for companies listed on the Vancouver Stock Exchange, none worth mentioning. We covered Mr. De Lucrezia and his Manera in the Shell Summary for Aug. 5, 2014, shortly after the company filed its final prospectus. To briefly summarize, Manera has four more directors, Maurizio Grande, Gordon Kettleson, Leo Tom Savino and John Pallot. Mr. Grande, with 200,000 escrow shares, owns a company that sells marble and granite for floors and countertops. Mr. Kettleson, also with 200,000 escrow shares, is a co-founder and the chairman of Crown Point Energy Inc. (CWV: $0.34). Mr. Savino, with 150,000 escrow shares, is a Vancouver realtor, and Mr. Pallot, with 100,000, is a consultant who is on the board of two juniors, Klondike Gold Corp. (KG: $0.15) and Statesman Resources Ltd. (SRR: $0.01).

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