AOBO.ob has withdrawn its latest registration of a private placement. RW was filed last night.
Here's the letter:
January 12, 2004
VIA EDGAR
Song P. Brandon, Esq.
Division of Corporate Finance
United States Securities and Exchange Commission
450 Washington Street, N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20549
Re: American Oriental Bioengineering Inc.
Form RW - Application for Withdrawal of Registration Statement on Form
SB-2 File No. 333-111664 filed on December 31, 2003.
Ladies and Gentlemen:
Pursuant to Rule 477 promulgated under the Securities Act of 1933, as
amended, American Oriental Bioengineering Inc. (the "Registrant") hereby
respectfully requests that its Registration Statement on Form SB-2, Commission
File No. 333-111664 (the "Registration Statement"), be immediately withdrawn and
that an order of the Commission granting such withdrawal be granted.
The Registration Statement was filed on behalf of certain investors
pursuant to a registration rights provision in the Investment Agreement entered
into between the Registrant and the investors (the "Investment Agreement"). The
Investment Agreement has expired and all the terms under the Investment
Agreement have become void. The Registration Statement has never become
effective, and no securities were sold in connection with the offering
contemplated by the Registration Statement.
If you have any questions regarding the foregoing application for
withdrawal, please feel free to contact Howard Jiang (212-891-3982) of Baker &
McKenzie, 805 Third Avenue, New York, New York 10022, the Registrant's outside
counsel.
Sincerely,
American Oriental Bioengineering Inc.
/s/ Shujun Liu
---------------------------
Shujun Liu
Chief Executive Officer and
Chairman of the Board
This caps a whirlwind sequence of events. Here's the timeline:
1. Company posts a strong Q3 on Nov 15 filing, and this PR:
http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/041117/175530_1.html
Company earned 0.07 fd and ft for Q3, ytd (9 mos): 0.15.
2. The next morning after the filing, the stock gapped up to 1.50 from a previous close of 1.29 and then went on to trade as high as 1.84.
3. On Nov 23, the company announced the now withdrawn private placement: http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/041123/235638_1.html
4. The stock tanked on the news and after recovering a bit, had slipped back down to 1.30 on Tuesday. (it closed at 1.38 yesterday).
They have completed one acquisition this year (out of cash on hand) which closed after Q3 ended, so Q4 could have a very strong number. I thought the placement was a step toward getting listed and saw some decent investors stepping up to put money into the company. Now what?
Very confusing sequence of events here, does anyone follow or have any assessment of what's going on? Thanks.
AI
