ASX-listed Investigator Resources has capitalised on strong demand for silver stocks, raising $5.4 million in an institutional placement through PAC Partners on Friday. 

Investigator Resources, which discovered a silver resource in 2011, was seeking the cash injection to bring its Paris deposit into production as quickly as possible. 

PAC sold new shares at 4.7¢ each, which was a 25 per cent discount to the last close. The broker closed the books early on Friday. 

Investigator Resources is expected to confirm the raising and resume trading on Tuesday. 

The deal was marketed as one of the few ways to play silver on the ASX. 

The price of silver is up 30 per cent this year. 

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There's one bright spark in the swarm of lithium hopefuls attracting the attention of fund managers and brokers.

Shares in Sydney-based Global Geoscience have climbed almost 800 per cent since the beginning of June when it announced it had secured an option to acquire the Rhyolite Ridge lithium-boron project in Nevada.

Last week, GSC said it would proceed with the acquisition after due diligence confirmed its potential as a long life, low cost source of lithium.

The company's shares were placed in a trading halt on Friday morning. Sources told Street Talk the pending announcement relates to an update on the recovery of the lithium; with 100 holes already drilled, a resource estimate is expected by September.

In a market where there is a great deal of excitement about the emerging demand for lithium due to the growing electric vehicle thematic, GSC has switched its focus from gold and copper to lithium at an opportune time. 

But it is the project's proximity to Tesla's Nevada gigafactory, which is just 340 kilometres away, that provides a key distinction from most other ASX-listed lithium stocks.

Street Talk understands GSC's recent roadshow through Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide, Perth and Hong Kong, which was managed by Cygnet Capital, sparked the interest of a handful of small-cap fund managers. 

Despite much of the world's lithium coming from Australia and South America, when Tesla chose Nevada for its gigafactory in 2014, industry commentators speculated one of the key attractions of the region was being situated near ample potential lithium supply.

Australian investors who met GSC on the roadshow were keen to understand the clay-type lithium deposits it is working with, with the likes of well-known locals Pilbara Minerals' Pilgangoora project and Galaxy Resources' Mt Cattlin project both "hard rock" deposits in Western Australia.

The GSC team highlighted the potential low cost nature of processing clay-based lithium deposits and the exploration potential of its 22 square kilometre landholding.

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Well known banks and financials analyst Brett Le Mesurier has parted ways with stockbroker APP Securities. 

Le Mesurier, who was a managing director and head of research at APP, left the firm earlier this month. 

APP chief operating officer Adam Joseph told staff in an email late on Thursday that Le Mesurier was leaving after "researching one of the largest sectors in the market" and thanked him for his services to the firm. 

APP last month took out the  "Best Research House" award at an annual event hosted by the Stockbrokers Association of Australia.

Le Mesurier started out in equities research in May 2001 after a career in investment banking at Chase. He joined APP predecessor BBY more than five years ago and prior to that also had a eight-year stint at Wilson HTM.

Le Mesurier's first big research break came with a call on QBE Insurance Group . With his familiarity with re-insurance, he was not impressed by potential exposures in the event of a disaster.

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Catapult Group International has priced its capital raising at $3 a share, or a 14 per cent discount to the theoretical ex-rights price, sources said on Thursday night.

As revealed by Street Talk, Goldman Sachs launched the $100 million deal for the sports analytics company on Wednesday. 

The broker was seeking to raise $68 million via a placement and another $32 million in a rights issue. 

The placement was done via a bookbuild, with Goldman taking bids in 5¢ increments from $2.70 to $3.30 a share. 

Funds raised were to acquire XOS Technologies, Inc ("XOS") and Kodaplay Limited trading as PLAYERTEK and provide additional working capital.

Sources said the transaction saw strong support from new and existing shareholders, with investors focused on the long-term growth prospects of the combined businesses.

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Quadrant Private Equity is considering delving back into the health sector with a "buy and build" investment in medical centres. 

Sources told Street Talk that Quadrant is investigating a roll-up of small medical centre operators, to take advantage of the highly-fragmented industry. 

It's understood to be early days, however Quadrant has plenty of form in the health sector and with rolling up businesses. 

Quadrant owns rapidly-expanding cancer care provider Icon and successfully invested alongside doctors in IVF operator Virtus Health, before floating it in 2013. Another roll-up, media monitoring business iSentia, made Quadrant's investors over six times their money.

This time around, the private equity firm's playbook relies around bringing together a handful of quality medical centre operators and enjoying the scale benefits in terms of back office expenses and management. 

Quadrant's Marcus Darville and Simon Pither, who have led the Icon investment, are working on the potential deal, sources said. 

IBISWorld says the General Practice medical services market in Australia has a low level of concentration, with less than 1 per cent of practices having 20 or more employees. The largest owner is Sonic Healthcare, according to IBISWorld, with less than 4 per cent market share while Primary Health Care has about 3 per cent. 

The biggest risk to any private equity-type investor would be regulatory changes. While there are plenty of moves in Canberra to cut back funding to health providers, the regulatory outlook for medical centres is the safest it has been for a while. The opposition's "Mediscare" campaign really hurt the Coalition, and you would have to think Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull would be scared to make any cuts to GP services. 

Quadrant's interest in the sector comes as Ernst & Young seeks a buyer for Sydney-based medical centre owner Ochre Health. Ochre owns about two dozen medical centres across NSW, Queensland, Tasmania and the ACT. 

Elsewhere, history could be repeating for SAI Global, with private equity again understood to be circling the beleaguered data and property services group.

Back in 2014 it was Pacific Equity Partners that lobbed a $1.1 billion takeover offer at SAI. KKR also ran its eye over the group, before deciding not to take the plunge.

While there has been no formal engagement, sources told Street Talk private equity firms [sources pointed at Blackstone] are again circling SAI, which has seen its shares fall by 12 per cent since the start of the year. 

The motivation is a break-up play, with logic suggesting that SAI's businesses could be worth a lot more to a buyer from the United States. That means any potential suitor needs strong overseas connections. 

PEXA (aka Property Exchange Australia) is seen as the logical acquirer for SAI's property business, as it was two years ago when PEP and KKR both sounded out it and Standards Australia, the not-for-profit organisation SAI was spun out of. 
 
 

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