United Oil & Gas plc has conditionally raised £700,000 via a placing and subscription for a total 700 million new ordinary shares of £0.00001 each in the capital of the company, at £0.001 each.
JAMAICA
Proceeds will go towards work programme obligations and seeking a farm-out for the 22,400km2 Walton Morant exploration licence, offshore Jamaica.
The fundraise was completed by way of an accelerated bookbuild process.
The oversubscribed placing of 690m new ordinary shares was with new and existing shareholders via the bookbuild and 10m new ordinary shares was via direct subscriptions with the company.
The issue of 700m new ordinary shares will represent 60.54% of United’s issued ordinary share capital.
United said it had existing shareholder authorities to allot and issue up to 385m new ordinary shares in the first tranche of placing shares to raise an initial sum of £385,000.
The company intends to convene a general meeting on or around 8 January 2025 to seek shareholder authorities to allot and issue the balance of 315m new ordinary shares, as tranche II, and one warrant for every two placing shares subscribed for.
The exercise price is £0.0015 per new ordinary share for tranches I and II.
Chairman Graham Martin subscribed for 10m new ordinary shares taking his total held to 24,089,730 shares.
Other board members chief executive Brian Larkin and non-executive director Iman Hill maintain their shares at 22,508,489 and 2.5m respectively.
On admission of the 385m new ordinary shares, the company’s total issued share capital will be 1,541,353,969.
United has also extended the expiry date of certain warrants, with an exercise price of £0.0028 per share, from 31 December 2024 to 30 June 2025, to provide additional time for holders to exercise their rights.
Mr Larkin said: “This fundraising is pivotal moment for United as we position the company for exploration-led growth.
“We fully acknowledge the dilution this fundraising creates, following an earlier raise at GBP£0.0020 this year.
“The decision to raise capital at this level was not taken lightly.
“However, it was necessary to ensure that United remains financially equipped to pursue value-creating opportunities, particularly in Jamaica, where we see significant potential to unlock shareholder returns.”
The company last week announced it would cut costs to a “bare minimum” to preserve its finances.
COMPANY MOVES
United also announced that Mr Martin would step down as chairman for personal reasons.
“I would like to thank Graham Martin for his leadership and support as chairman of the company, ” added Mr Martin.
“We are making progress in identifying a suitable successor to support the next phase of United’s growth.”