Faroe Petroleum raised more than expected after investors ploughed into a share placing yesterday.
The independent oil and gas explorer raised £65million instead of an expected £45million from new and existing institutional investors after launching an accelerated book build process on Thursday night.
The firm said the boost in its funds would free it to pursue further acquisitions.
Less that 24 hours after brokers started ringing potential investors, the company, which has licences in Norway, the Atlantic Margin and the North Sea, was able to reveal its placing was oversubscribed.
Taking advantage of a window of strong investor confidence, the company launched the placing to raise money to “maintain momentum” and ensure it can keep its 25% stake in the recent Pil find. Earlier this year the company discovered “unexpected” reserves thought to contain up to 170million barrels of oil in the field. Other partners in the field include VNG Norge, Spike Exploration and Rocksource Exploration.
Five of the company’s seven board members participated in the placing, edging up the size of their stakes in the firm, including chairman John Bentley, chief financial officer Jonathan Cooper, chief operating officer Helge Hammer and senior indpendent non-executive, Tim Read, as well as Graham Stewart, Chief Executive of Faroe Petroleum.
Mr Stewart said: “Faroe is delighted to announce the result of the successful and oversubscribed placing.
“We would like to thank our existing shareholders for their continued commitment to the company and welcome our new long-term shareholders to the company. This placing will strengthen the company’s financial position, whilst safeguarding our core value, and will allow us to accelerate our exploration, appraisal and development activities.
“The increased fundraise will also allow us the flexibility and financial strength to target further production acquisition opportunities.
“We are continuing our exciting exploration campaign, with two wells currently being drilled at the Butch South West prospect and the Bue prospect, both in Norway and the results of which we expect in Q3 2014.”
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