Helium One raises £4.7m to advance planning in Tanzania

(Sharecast News) - Tanzania-focussed helium explorer Helium One Global announced on Wednesday that it has raised £4.7m ($5.92m) through a company-led placing of 313,333,333 new shares at a price of 1.5p each. The AIM-traded firm said the placing was aimed at securing working capital to advance its planning for the next stage of its work programme in Tanzania.

It said the placing was facilitated by long-term supportive investors, with Peterhouse Capital acting as the placing agent.

The move came on the heels of the company's successful exploration efforts, notably the Tai-3 and Itumbula West-1 exploration wells.

Investors in the placing were offered shares at a price with a discount of 30% to the closing share price of 2.16p on 6 February.

The placing was conditional on admission of the new shares to trading on AIM.

On admission, the placing shares would be fully paid and would rank pari passu with Helium One's existing issued shares.

Application for the placing shares to be admitted to trading on AIM had been made to the London Stock Exchange, with dealings expected to start at 0800 GMT on 15 February.

After admission, Helium One's issued and fully paid share capital would comprise 3,715,710,763 shares, all carrying one voting right each, with no shares held in treasury.

"The results that we have achieved from the Itumbula West-1 well, flowing helium to surface in such significant concentrations, has confirmed a globally unique helium producing province," said chief executive officer Lorna Blaisse.

"By moving quickly and finalising this company-led placing early on, we have been able to strengthen our working capital position, which will enable us to fully focus on the next phase of the company's growth."

At 1339 GMT, shares in Helium One Global were down 5.09% at 2.05p.

Reporting by Josh White for Sharecast.com.