NEW YORK, April 24, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- The Deal has issued a report that shows the dollars invested in the small-cap equity financing market increased during the first quarter of 2015. The total dollars invested in PIPE transactions increased by 22%, while the volume of transactions fell 12.4%, when compared to the same quarter last year.

"PIPE dollar investment increased in the first quarter of the year, almost by a quarter," said Paul Springer, senior writer for The Deal. "Healthcare, technology and energy companies made up a large proportion of deal flow in Q1 2015, and I believe they will continue to do so for the rest of 2015."

Some highlights from the report include:

  • The first quarter's total dollars invested were up 22% compared to the same time last year, according to PrivateRaise, a service of The Deal, which tracks PIPEs that raise at least $1 million.
  • The volume of PIPE transactions in Q1 2015 fell 12.4% when compared to the same time last year. The first quarter had 296 PIPE transactions, compared to 338 deals from the same time last year.
  • The proportion of at-the-market (ATM) offering facilities out of the total dollars invested remained steady at 56.1% in the first quarter of 2015.
  • Deal flow in healthcare PIPEs accounted for 37.8% of the total transactions for the quarter, while technology and energy companies made up 18% and 13% of the total, respectively.
  • The number of unregistered PIPE transactions decreased to 171 in the first quarter of 2015 from 220 during the same time last year, which accounted for a 22.2% change.
  • Excluding ATMs and confidentially marketed public offerings (CMPOs), the 36 registered offerings for the first quarter reflected a 12.2% decrease when compared to the 41 registered offerings in the first quarter of 2014.
  • The first quarter saw 42 CMPOs, the same number as the first quarter of 2014. Those offerings sought a total of $1.48 billion in the first quarter of this year, which accounted for a 14% decrease from the same quarter last year.
  • Empery Asset Management LP was the top ranked investor in the first quarter by number of investments, with 11 deals. Sabby Management LLC, ranked second, invested in 10 offerings, followed by LH Financial Services Corp., which invested in nine deals. Broadfin Capital LLC was ranked fourth with six investments.

The full report is available online. For more information on PrivateRaise, visit www.privateraise.com.

About The Deal

The Deal is a media and relationship capital company providing over 100,000 users with business opportunities sourced from proprietary deal news and a relationship discovery tool. Law firms, investment banks, private equity and hedge funds use The Deal's insight and analysis about potential and announced transactions to find their next deal and BoardEx's service and database for building relationships. The Deal has offices in New York, London, Washington, D.C., Petaluma, CA and Chennai, India. For more information, visit www.thedeal.com.

Contact: Aedin Moloney, TheStreet, Inc., Aedin.Moloney at thestreet.com

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SOURCE TheStreet, Inc.

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