UK unconventional gas producer IGas has raised £20.6m through a placing at 75p a share, representing some 29.5 per cent of the pre-placing share capital. Another chunk, representing 29.9 per cent of the capital, is being issued to partner Nexen in return for Nexen's UK licence interests.
This heavy dilution of existing shareholders should be worth it, though. Acquiring Nexen's interests will almost triple IGas's current production and increase contingent recoverable resources by 115 per cent to 1.74 trillion cubic feet, which is equivalent to some 260m barrels of oil. And becoming operator will enable IGas to accelerate development plans that include drilling a number of new sites this year and preparing its first site for commercial production.
What we said:
When: 2/10/99
Price: 65p
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