LONDON (ShareCast) - (Sharecast News) - Exploration and development company United Oil & Gas has raised £3m via an oversubscribed placing and subscription with existing and new investors, it announced on Tuesday.
The London-listed firm said the fundraising consisted of 54,545,454 new ordinary shares at a price of 5.5p per placing share.

It said placees would also receive a total of 40,909,080 warrants over ordinary shares in the company, on the basis of three warrants exercisable at 8p per share for every four placing shares, rounded down to the nearest warrant.

The warrants would have a four-year life, and would be exercisable from the first anniversary of issue.

United said the warrants would not be listed, adding that the issue of the shares and the warrants remained subject to shareholder approval.

It said the placing was supported by "certain strategic investors", in recognition of the "quality and underlying value" of its existing assets and its management's ability to use that as a platform from which to further grow the firm and build value.

United said it has a dual-focussed portfolio of low risk, late stage appraisal and development projects in Europe, and high-impact exploration plays in the Caribbean, Latin America and Africa.

The company was reportedly evaluating a number of potential projects, with its board saying it believed the new funds would assist it in securing "one or more" of those projects, should it decide that the projects represented attractive opportunities for shareholders.

"We are delighted with the result of this oversubscribed placing," said United Oil & Gas chief executive officer Brian Larkin.

"This is further validation of our strategy of building a strong and diverse portfolio of late stage development projects in Europe, and high-impact exploration in the Caribbean."

Larkin said the company's portfolio already included a commercial gas discovery onshore Italy that was currently going through the permitting process; an interest in the upcoming well to appraise the Colter discovery in the UK which lay on the same trend as onshore Europe's most prolific oil field; and a 20% interest in the Tullow Oil-operated Walton-Morant licence, offshore Jamaica, which held the high grade 200 mmbbl Colibri target.

"We do not intend to stop here, and these funds will be used to facilitate the expansion of our portfolio, as we look to add to the long pipeline of value driving opportunities which our shareholders are already exposed to.

"I look forward to providing further updates on our progress in the near future which will reward the support of both new and existing shareholders."

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