Is the venture capital environment still struggling or is the telecom sector still unattractive to investors? These are questions that begged to be asked in the wake of Tropic Networks' unorthodox financing plans. The Ottawa-based optical networking equipment maker hopes to hang on for another nine months by spinning off its technology assets and business into a new entity called NewCo. Tropic Networks - a.k.a. OldCo, I guess - will then refocus its business on the oil and gas sector by acquiring  acquired two oil and gas companies (yes, that's oil and gas companies). Tropic will acquire oil developer Chamaleo Exploration and Tournament Energy. natural gas developer Tournament Energy for common and preferred shares. The deal will give NewCo/ Tropic $8.1-million in cash, which should let it  survive another nine months while giving it time to hunt down other sources of financing. To be honest, I've never heard of a telecom company getting into bed with an energy producer but we live in strange times. One thing that puzzles me about Tropic's financing plan is the optical market appears to be making a mini-comeback, particularly in the metro market, so you would think there would be some interest in the company. Tropic, which values its current assets at $36 million, raised $33-million of private equity in July 2004 from a group of investors that included Alcatel, Celtic House, Crescendo Ventures, Goldman Sacks, Kodiask Ventures and Teachers' Private Capital. This raised its total fund-raising activity to $120-million.