Touchstone raises £23.1m for Ortoire exploration

Touchstone Exploration has placed 24,291,866 new shares with investors in the UK and Canada at 95p each, it announced on Tuesday, raising gross proceeds of £23.1m, to continue exploration activities at Ortoire.

The AIM-traded firm noted that the price represented a 3.4% and 5.7% discount to 98.39p and 100.76p, respectively, being the five- and 10-day volume weighted average price of its shares on AIM as at 2 November.

It said Shore Capital and Canaccord Genuity had acted as joint bookrunners for the placing with investors in the UK, with Canaccord acting as sole bookrunner for the placing with investors in Canada.

“Following the significant exploration success at Ortoire, which has consistently exceeded our expectations, the placing will allow us to continue our exploration and development activities we have planned for the Ortoire block, as we seek to bring our existing natural gas discoveries into production and drill further prospective targets,” said president and chief executive officer Paul Baay.

“We are delighted by the support we have received from new and existing investors.

“We continue to thank our shareholders for their ongoing support, and we look forward to continuing to update shareholders as the exploration program continues.”

At 1216 GMT, shares in Touchstone Exploration were up 0.59% in London, at 99.58p.