Bahamas Petroleum raises funds, hires new advisers as deal talks continue

Oil and gas explorer Bahamas Petroleum has raised £1.1m at a discounted price of 2.5p per share and hired new corporate advisers as it looks to secure a partnership deal with a major oil company.

Chief executive Simon Potter said the funds raised will give the company "more flexibility" in ongoing partnership negotiations over its licences around the Caribbean island.

Earlier in the month, a confidentiality and exclusivity agreement was signed with a "major" but unnamed international oil company to "conclude a detailed technical evaluation" of the company's highly prospective assets in the Bahamas and potentially an agreement over a potential transaction.

Application for the 44m new shares to be admitted on AIM has been made and they are expected to begin trading on or around 29 May, expanding Bahamas' issued share capital to 1.55bn ordinary shares.

Elsewhere, Bahamas appointed the advisory and capital markets division of Macquarie Capital Markets as its advisor to assist the company with its various corporate initiatives.

Potter added, "We are delighted to have appointed an organisation with a global reputation such as Macquarie Capital as our advisor and look forward to working closely with them. We believe that Macquarie Capital's deep sector expertise in oil and gas will be of considerable benefit to BPC as we look to advancing our strategy.

As of 1030 BST, Bahamas shares had tumbled 13.54% to 3.07p.