Columbus Energy raises £3m via fundraising to increase production

Columbus Energy, the Trinidad-focused oil and gas developer, has conditionally raised a gross £3m via a placing and proposed to drum up a further £1m via an open offer as it looks to increase production and examine other opportunities.

Columbus said 60m ordinary shares were issued to Schroder Investment Management at 5p per share and would be admitted to trading on 12 October.

The company also announced that its senior management had subscribed to raise gross proceeds of £100,000 and were proposing to raise the additional £1m thanks to an open offer to qualifying shareholders.

Proceeds of the fundraisings will be used to accelerate Columbus' growth strategy on its current assets in Trinidad, further increasing production and cash flow, as well as enabling the group to review and target potential new value-adding opportunities in South America.

When discussing the placement and Columbus' new senior staff, executive chairman Leo Koot said, "Since joining the company five months ago, the new senior management team has worked hard to transform the business and through our initiatives, we are still on track to be cash flow positive by the end of the year.

"We could have carried on at our current activity levels, however, Columbus has a rare opportunity to accelerate its 2018 work programme, pursue value adding M&A opportunities, further grow our production and in turn our cash flow, as a result of the investment by Schroders."

As of 0835 BST, shares had dipped 2.92% to 5.82p.