Nighthawk spreads its wings

Nighthawk, the US-focused oil development and production company, has raised around £1.97m through the placing of 78,892,000 new ordinary shares at 2.5p per share.Steve Gutteridge, chairman of Nighthawk, said the move "represents an initial and welcome step towards rebuilding value for Nighthawk shareholders." The firm added: "The funds raised will be used to meet ongoing costs and to push ahead with the first steps in a new work programme, which will initially comprise undertaking further improvements to existing wells."Nighthawk is set to have sole responsibility for the costs of the work on the existing wells, which are anticipated to be approximately $0.4m, and will have a 50% working interest in the oil produced.Shareholder Bronsstädet AB has subscribed to 19,723,000 shares, taking its total to 42,767,857 ordinary shares, representing 9.36% of the company's share capital. Another buyer, Johan Claesson, will now hold 63,665,297 ordinary shares representing 13.93% of the company's share capital.The share price fell 4.93% to 3.28p by 14:45.NR