Could the 10.1 million units have gone to retail?Sure. Natural Currency may know something, and may have participated. There's a chance Barrick is not even in the placement. A real chance. I'm just looking through keyholes, thinking Barrick wants to keep doors closed, with no one's foot in them.
When broker-dealers are trying to achieve retail distribution of a placement, you will often see increased retail activity. A perfect example was the 1.667 million, or 1.673 million shares that showed up on the ask, late Wednesday. On the other hand, it appears nothing happened with them. No real signs of increased retail activity before or after, that I detect, except Management's arranged sale to the Europe fund. We saw the sale of their existing shares, not their units in the placement.
Could the units have been subscribed in full by private clients, not showing on the retail order book? Yes. But you'd expect others to dump at retail to buy units in the placement. I assure you I would have tried. You couldn't sell at much below $.20 and have the numbers work, but just like a call option, the warrants have value. I was casually watching for higher volume, or size, and I didn't see it. Look at a 5 day, 1 month, or 3 month chart, & see if you see any.
If retail demand for 10 million is there, we haven' t seen it here. If brokers have found 10 individuals with $200,000 each, for new positions, that too is good news. It may not get the notice Barrick would.
James Anderson's reply suggests there may have been units at retail:
"The additional shares being offered in the market are no doubt being offered by someone who would like to sell the stock and participate in the placement. For their sake, I hope they do not sell their stock and find the placement closed!!"
It has been quiet around here. Thursday, when James' explanation was shared, and I could have been accused of "beating the drum"; it seemed to fall on deaf ears. No volume, and the close was $ 18.5 cents.
If the placement was achieved at retail, looking through the keyhole, I didn't see it. It wouldn't be the first time, we'll see. It's nice to see different viewpoints.