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 fell 3.18 points to 972.51 Wednesday. Michael Thomson's new capital pool shell, Rodeo Capital III Corp. (ROP), listed on the TSX-V today but did not trade. There are more shells on the way. Daniel Drimmer has filed a preliminary prospectus for his new capital pool shell, Campar Capital Corp. Raymond James Ltd. is handling the shell's $400,000 initial public offering of four million shares at 10 cents.

Last week, the shell sold 10 million escrow shares at five cents for $500,000 and 41 million shares at 10 cents for $4.1-million, bringing the total amount of money already raised to $4.6-million. After Campar closes its $400,000 IPO, it will have raised $5-million, the maximum amount of money that a capital pool shell can raise for its public listing according to the TSX-V's policy. Mr. Drimmer, the shell's 42-year-old president, is the second-largest shareholder with 9.9 million shares. He has been the chief executive officer or chairman of various real estate investment trusts since 1995, when he would have been 23 years old (his family has been involved in the real estate business for three generations). Mr. Drimmer does not list capital pool shells for the purpose of selling them to new promoters. So far, he has listed two and with each one he has vended in real estate properties, created a REIT, and stayed on as a large shareholder and a trustee. He listed his first capital pool shell, Wand Capital Corp., in March, 2012, with a 10-cent IPO. Three months later, the shell acquired a portfolio of residential apartments, rolled back 1:8 and changed its name to True North Apartment REIT (TN: $8.66). The stock has since traded between $7.60 and $12.23, making it a remarkable success for Mr. Drimmer and his Wand IPO buyers. Adjusting for the 1:8 rollback, Wand IPO shareholders paid 80 cents for their shares and are up 982.5 per cent on their investment. As well, the REIT pays a monthly distribution of 5.82 cents per unit. That works out to 69.84 cents a year, paying Wand IPO shareholders an annual dividend of 87.3 per cent on their initial investment.

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