Corporate News

Petroflow Energy Ltd. (AMEX: PED) announces that its subsidiary, North American Petroleum Corporation USA (NAPCUS) has received a "Notice" from Enterra Energy Corp. that alleges it is in default under the Farmout Agreement dated effective March 1, 2006 by and between Enterra Acquisitions Corp, a wholly owned subsidiary of Enterra and NAPCUS.

The Company's firm position is that it is not in default under the Agreement, for a number of reasons that will be clearly communicated to Enterra in support of Petroflow's continuing rights under the Farmout.

In the Notice, Enterra stated that the Notice does not constitute a notice of termination and requested that NAPCUS propose a plan satisfactory to Enterra to cure its non-performance or to otherwise reach an understanding with Enterra to modify the current arrangement no later than December 10, 2009. If no resolution can be reached and should the Company receive a termination notice under the Agreement, the Company would have 30 days to prepare a plan to cure the non-performance and a further 60 days thereafter to initiate drilling activities on the Farmout lands.

Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE: AGO) announced the completion of the sale of 27,512,600 common shares at a price of $20.90 per share, representing 23,924,000 shares that it agreed to sell to the underwriter in a public offering and an additional 3,588,600 common shares that the underwriter elected to purchase pursuant to an option granted in connection with the public offering. The net proceeds of the sale totaled approximately $574.0 million.

UBS Securities LLC acted as sole underwriter for the offering. Willis Capital Markets and Advisory served as transaction advisor for the Company.

Assured Guaranty intends to use the net proceeds of the offering for general corporate purposes and to complete the external capital portion of the rating agency capital initiatives for its subsidiaries announced in its November 12, 2009 press release. In light of the size of the offering, Assured Guaranty does not currently expect to execute the external reinsurance arrangement discussed in that press release.

Xerox Corporation (NYSE: XRX) closed today on a $2 billion offering of senior unsecured notes.

Of these notes, $1 billion will mature in February 2015 and bear interest at a fixed rate coupon of 4.25 percent; $650 million will mature in December 2019 at 5.625 percent; and $350 million will mature in December 2039 at 6.75 percent.

Net proceeds from the offering will be used in connection with the acquisition of Affiliated Computer Services (NYSE: ACS).

"This successful financing reflects investors' confidence in the strength of Xerox's financial position and in the acquisition of Affiliated Computer Services, which will increase Xerox's already strong free cash flow and enhance our annuity-based business model," said Lawrence A. Zimmerman, vice chairman and chief financial officer of Xerox.

PharmAthene, Inc. (AMEX: PIP) announced today the presentation of new data from the Company's anthrax vaccine program showing that its lyophilized recombinant Protective Antigen (rPA) based anthrax vaccine is structurally stable and potent after 16 months at various temperatures up to and including 55 degrees C. The data were presented by Dr. Matthew Duchars, Chief Scientific Officer for PharmAthene, during an oral session at the HHS Public Health Emergency Medical Countermeasures Enterprise (PHEMCE) Stakeholders Workshop 2009 / BARDA Industry Day.

David P. Wright, President and Chief Executive Officer of PharmAthene, commented, "These new data are very encouraging as they demonstrate that PharmAthene's lyophilized rPA could be used to provide a stable cold-chain-free vaccine, enabling us to develop a formulation which could be stored and distributed at room temperature, an important attribute for deployment in the civilian Strategic National Stockpile."

In an oral presentation entitled, "Development of a Highly Stable Lyophilized rPA-Based Anthrax Vaccine," Dr. Duchars presented results from a series of studies evaluating different approaches to increase the stability of an rPA anthrax vaccine product candidate. Of the techniques evaluated, lyophilization showed exceptional stability. An optimized lyophilized formulation of rPA was subsequently tested in an accelerated stability study at 5 degrees C; 25 degrees C; 40 degrees C; and 55 degrees C.

At 3 months, little evidence of rPA degradation was detected in the samples at all temperatures up to and including 55 degrees C. Using the mouse challenge assay, the lyophilized rPA vaccine was shown to have retained potency. Subsequent analysis at 16 months demonstrated that the rPA had retained both structural integrity and vaccine potency.

These preliminary data suggest that an optimized rPA formulation could be used to provide a stable cold-chain-free vaccine. Scale-up of the lyophilization process is currently underway.

American Water Works Company, Inc. (NYSE: AWK), the largest investor-owned U.S. water and wastewater utility company, today announced that its financing subsidiary, American Water Capital Corp., successfully closed a 30-year $60 million taxable debt offering with a 6 percent coupon rate.

The proceeds from the bond offering will be used to repay short-term debt related to infrastructure upgrades in Illinois, Indiana, Tennessee, Long Island and Maryland.

Edward Jones is the sole underwriter for the offering.