Aladdin Oil & Gas ASA is pleased to announce the completion of the private placing adopted by the General Meeting on 29th April 2011 (the “Placing”). A total of 20,202,650 new ordinary shares in the Company (the “Placing Shares”) have been placed by new investors and existing shareholders in relation to the Placing at a subscription price of NOK 4 per Placing Share, to raise gross proceeds of NOK 80,810,600 before commissions and expenses. 

The Placing Shares equal, in number, to approximately 46 percent of the ordinary shares issued before the Placing, and are now issued and credited as fully paid and rank pari passu with the existing ordinary shares. Following issue of the Placing Shares on 1st June, the Company’s share capital comprise of 64,081,336 ordinary shares of NOK 4 each.

The Company is happy with the strong interest shown in the Placing and is pleased to welcome new institutional and private investors amongst the Company’s shareholders.

The Company would like to disclose that Soyuzneftegas Capital has subscribed for a total of 13,606,000 of the Placing Shares, representing approximately 21 per cent of the total existing ordinary shares of the Company after the Placing Shares have been issued. Soyuzneftegas Capital is one of the companies within the Russian SoyuzNefteGas group. SoyuzNefteGas is led by Russia’s former energy minister Yuri Shafranik and is actively involved in many diversified investment projects covering most of the world’s energy markets.

Alexey Kruzkov, the Company’s Chief Executive Officer, said:
“We are delighted to have raised these funds and with the high quality of the investors we have attracted. The funds raised will enable us to fulfill the work programs in Ukhta and Orenburg, and accelerate the evaluation of other opportunities in our portfolio. We have an exciting period of activity ahead of us and are ready for the challenge”.

Fred Ponsonby, the Company’s Chairman, said:

“We are pleased that the placing has been completed and would like to welcome new cornerstone investors to the Company. We would like to thank Waterford Finance & Investment and Soyuzneftegas Capital alongside other institutional investors for their support. With our professional management team and clear strategic objectives we are confident we will be able to maximize returns for shareholders”.

Aladdin Oil & Gas Company ASA is a Norwegian based exploration and production company, head quartered in Oslo, with its shares traded on the OTC list under the ticker code AOGC. The company owns the Russian oil company OOO Geotechnologia which holds three licenses in the Timan-Pechora province in Northwest Russia, as well as 5 licenses through our company OOO Veselovskoye in the Orenburg area.