Small caps news round-up

Minds + Machines extended its reach in the hospitality industry on Friday, announcing a cross-promotion agreement with the .club and .bar domains to market its own .beer and .vodka domains. The AIM-traded domain registry business said under the agreement, consumers buying or renewing .club names would have access to significantly discounted .beer, .vodka and .bar names.

Coal of Africa's bid for Universal Coal was progressing satisfactorily, its board said on Friday, with the company sticking to its planned timetable for the offer. The AIM-traded firm said it had received the written consent of Investec Bank to the implementation of the offer, satisfying a particular condition.

Aurasian Minerals' offer for Moroccan Minerals went further into unconditional territory on Friday, with the company revealing it had received acceptance from shareholders representing 88.95% of the outstanding shares. The AIM-traded company completed its due diligence and posted an offer to shareholders in Moroccan Minerals on 18 January. On 22 February, it announced it had received acceptance of the offer from shareholders representing 64.8% of the outstanding equity.

N4 Pharma expanded its IP portfolio on Friday, its part-owner Onzima Ventures reported, acquiring the exclusive global rights to a range of patents from Opal IP, for new uses and formulations of a number of off-patent and soon to be off-patent drugs. In addition, Opal entered into a consultancy services agreement with N4 Pharma, where it will provide patent and formulation support in connection with N4's Cocrys technology.

Marketing and public relations group Next Fifteen has acquired specialist technical content marketing specialist Publitek, which focuses on the global semiconductor and electronics markets, for an initial £6.2m mostly in cash.

Data communications outfit Avanti said it had signed its first pre-launch contract for capacity on the HYLAS 4 satellite. Avanti said it will supply Bentley Walker, one of its key existing customers, with capacity on HYLAS 4 across Sub-Saharan Africa in a $1m commitment.

Alpha Pyrenees Trust posted a loss for 2015 after disposing of most of its its portfolio.For the year to the end of December, the trust, which invests primarily in French commercial real estate, reported a loss of £41.3m, or 35.1p per share.

Rex Bionics said it has agreed the terms of a Materiel Transfer Agreement with the US Army's Medical Research and Materiel Command. The agreement is the start of a program of design modifications to REX's robotic mobility aid that will allow its use for early ambulation of patients with lower limb loss, the company said in a statement.