ALO.L Share News (ALO)

Africa-focused AIM-listed Alecto Minerals has raised £0.3m before after placing 300m new shares at 0.1p apiece with existing institutional investors.The new shares represent around 21.43% of the enlarged issued share capital.The net proceeds of the placing will be used to provide the company with additional working capital as it actively conducts due diligence on potential acquisition opportunities, which is part of its over-arching strategy to become a gold producer in Africa.Alecto also said it was advancing its negotiations for potential partnership opportunities for its West African gold portfolio.Chief executive Mark Jones said: "Alecto is positioning itself for the next stage in its development, and I am delighted to have galvanised support from our existing shareholder base for our previously stated strategy."The company is actively evaluating acquisition opportunities which we believe could potentially bring us closer to achieving our overall objective of generating revenues through production."Coupled with the advancement of partnership negotiations in respect of our current portfolio assets, we believe that we are well placed for growth during the remainder of 2015 and look forward to providing further updates in due course."