First Merit Group has helped entrepreneurs with solid ideas and outstanding market opportunities found, manage and properly fund their companies, enabling critical early-stage development. We invite you to browse through these listings and check the links to get a better understanding of our areas of expertise and the companies and relationships that we have built.
| Athabasca Uranium Inc. | TSXV: | UAX |
|---|---|---|
| Banks Energy Inc. | TSXV: | BKL |
| Canadian Phoenix Resources Corporation | TSXV: | CXP |
| Choice Resources Corporation | TSXV: | CZE |
| CounterPath Corporation | TSXV: | CCV |
| El Condor Minerals Inc. | TSXV: | LCO |
| Pan-Global Energy Ltd. | TSXV: | PIE |
| Porto Energy Corp. | TSXV: | PEC |
| Velocity Minerals Ltd. | TSX: | VLC |
| Velvet Exploration Ltd. | TSE: | VLV |
| Watch Resources Ltd. | TSXV: | WRL |
Founded by the First Merit Group, Athabasca Uranium Inc. began acquiring properties in mid-2010 in the Athabasca Basin region of northeast Saskatchewan, within the area’s most prolific high-grade uranium trend and surrounded by producing uranium companies. The Company has rapidly accumulated over 120,000 acres of highly-prospective properties, completed over $7 million in equity financing, and commenced an aggressive exploration program that includes airborne and ground surveying, high-definition seismic imaging, and diamond drilling. UAX management has engaged expert explorers who have designed programs employing proprietary exploration technology that has been key in several recent significant high-grade uranium discoveries in the region, such as Hathor Exploration’s Roughrider zone. UAX will look to leverage those successes into the identification of its own uranium deposit in this year’s exploration program.
Banks Energy, primarily in its joint venture partnership with the Poundmaker Cree First Nation of Saskatchewan, was founded and built by the First Merit team before a series of mergers and acquisitions in late 2005 created Canadian Phoenix Resources Corp. Prior to the first merger, Banks enjoyed a 100% drilling success rate in its early stage exploration and development program, successfully completing 14 oil and gas wells on its Poundmaker and Freemont lands. A heavy oil success story, the Freemont property has the distinction of being the oil and gas platform on which Canadian Phoenix was initially built.
Canadian Phoenix is a consolidation platform for junior oil and gas exploration and production companies, pursuing a corporate strategy of seeking undervalued opportunities that exist in the current oil and gas market environment. Canadian Phoenix anticipates that as the junior oil and gas market seeks new capital and joint venture partners, its consolidation platform offers an attractive structure for investors and E&P partners alike. Committed to growth, Canadian Phoenix constantly evaluates strategic corporate projects and acquisition prospects, and offers exposure to a diverse asset base, risk management, and access to capital for prospective E&P partners.
Originally the product of a merger with Banks Energy Inc. in late 2005, CXP had acquired a 57% majority ownership stake in Serrano Energy, a private Calgary-based E&P company producing 1,000 barrels of heavy oil per day in Saskatchewan and a 57% majority ownership stake in Marble Point Energy, a private Calgary-based E&P company producing approximately 2,800 boed of natural gas in BC, Alberta and Saskatchewan just prior to the economic downturn of 2008. CXP has recently divested of both those major oil and gas assets (Serrano & Marble Point) and now has some $1.42 per share worth of cash in its treasury (CDN $78 Million).
Choice Resources was founded, managed, and built by the First Merit Group to 1,600 BOED from three core areas: Bow Island, Viking, and Pincher Creek, prior to the installation of a new management team and a follow-on merger with Buffalo Resources Corporation. Prior to the Buffalo merger, Choice had 2P reserves of 33.8 Bcf of natural gas plus 966 mbbls of NGLs, all with a reserve life index of 12.9 years and over 45,000 acres of exploratory and undeveloped land. Buffalo Resources has since merged with Twin Butte Energy (TSX: TBE), who continues to develop the original long-life Choice assets.
CounterPath Corporation is a global leader in the development of innovative multimedia VOIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) softphones and SIP applications. CounterPath’s flexible, user-friendly and feature-rich software suite enables clients to cost-effectively integrate or bundle voice, video, presence and IM applications into their VOIP solutions. CounterPath’s clients are some of the world’s largest telecommunications service and network equipment providers, including AT&T, BT (British Telecom), Alcatel-Lucent and Cisco Systems.
El Condor Minerals completed a management re-capitalization in 2010 by engaging several senior management, board and advisory committee members with the discovery and/or management of world-class precious metals deposits to their credit, including the Don Mario deposit (Orvana Minerals) and Zaldivar (Barrick Gold), among others. In 2011, the Company announced the acquisition of the Horden Lake Copper Project, a 5,258 hectare advanced exploration stage project in northern Quebec. The recent acquisition includes the Horden Lake Cu-Ni deposit, a NI 43-101 qualified copper, nickel and platinum group elements resource of over 16 million indicated and inferred tonnes. Discovered in the 1960s when INCO drilled over 150 holes, the property was considered remote due to lack of infrastructure - that, and low commodity pricing precluded development. Both situations are now vastly improved. With the mineralization open at depth, El Condor intends to expand and develop the resource at Horden Lake with additional data compilation and interpretation, preliminary metallurgy and drilling through 2012.
Pan-Global Energy began as a joint venture partnership with the Onion Lake First Nation to explore and develop 120,000+ acres of P&NG and oilsands rights on underdeveloped land in a fairway of prolific heavy oil & natural gas production near Lloydminster, on one of the largest contiguous land bases in Eastern Alberta and Western Saskatchewan. Pan-Global drilled numerous successful natural gas and heavy oil wells and was producing over 500 boe/d before being acquired by BlackPearl Resources (TSX: PXX), a significant industry player in heavy oil development in Canada and the United States, and part of the Lundin Oil & Gas group of companies.
Porto Energy Corp. is a Houston-based oil & gas company founded and financed by the First Merit team. Porto owns a 100% interest in six concessions totaling over 1.4 million acres of primarily onshore oil and gas rights in Portugal. Prospective for both oil and gas, a Sed-Strat Geological Consultants Inc. report gives the Porto concessions a contingent resource of 37.4 million BOE (2P). To date several millions of dollars have been spent on the concessions, and surrounding concessions are currently slated for over US $500 million of major company (Repsol, PetroBras, etc.) development expenditures. In 2010 and early 2011, Porto raised over US$100 million in working capital and strengthened its board and management in preparation for its initial public offering, which it completed in March 2011. The IPO has provided Porto sufficient capital going forward to begin development of the two confirmed discoveries on its massive Portugese concessions. Porto has recently commenced drilling on the first of its 12 excellent reef prospects, each of which has been seismically identified and each of which has been deemed a “company-maker”.
Velocity Minerals Ltd., listed on both the Toronto (TSX) and Frankfurt Stock Exchanges, acquired the Mt. Haskins and Cassiar Moly molybdenum exploration properties in northern B.C. in late 2007. The Company has conducted a multi-phase work program on the properties through 2010, and has also recently begun acquiring and exploring several propective gold claims in the Orogrande region of Idaho.
Velvet Exploration was founded in 1995 by the First Merit team. By partnering with the Hobbema First Nation of central Alberta, Velvet gained access to a large under-explored block of land for exploration and development, and was built over a period of five years of rapid growth, primarily through the drill bit. In 1998, Velvet Exploration graduated to the senior Toronto Stock Exchange (TSE), and in 1999, The Globe & Mail in their Annual Report on Business named it “the most successful public company in Canada” based on share appreciation. In its five years of operation, Velvet achieved an average success rate for drilling of over 75%, with hundreds of wells drilled. The company drilled 100 wells in the year 2000 alone, and grew to over 10,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day.
As a high-value junior oil and gas company, Velvet became an extremely attractive takeover target. In June 2001, Velvet was purchased by El Paso Corporation of Houston, Texas at a price of CAD$8.15 per share for a total purchase price of CAD$432 Million.
Guided and financed by the First Merit team, Watch Resources secured a unique exploration and development opportunity with the Fishing Lake Metis Settlement in east central Alberta. Through an agreement with the Metis, the company gained preferential access to Metis Settlement lands, covering over 100,000 acres of heavy oil and shallow gas rights near Lloydminster, Canada’s heavy oil capital. Bordered by BlackPearl Resources’ Onion Lake project, and surrounded by major oil company production, Watch explored for and produced both oil and natural gas from its wells drilled on Settlement lands, and was subsequently acquired by BlackPearl (TSX: PXX), a significant industry player in heavy oil development in Canada and the United States, and part of the Lundin Oil & Gas group of companies.