Ascent Resources Regulatory News (AST)

29 Jul 2009 07:00



Ascent Resources plc / Epic: AST / Index: AIM / Sector: Oil and Gas

29th July 2009

Ascent Resources plc ('Ascent' or 'the Company')

Issue of Equity 

Ascent Resources plc, the AIM traded oil and gas exploration and production company, further to its announcement of 14 May 2009, has issued 38,000,000 new ordinary shares of 0.1 pence each ('Ordinary Shares') to GEM Global Yield Fund Limited ('GEM') as part of a draw-down on the equity line of credit provided by GEM. The price of the subscription is 3.54 pence per Ordinary Share, a discount of 9% to the average Ascent closing price over the past 15 trading days.

Application will be made for the Ordinary Shares to be admitted to trading on AIM on 3rd August 2009. Following the issue of the Ordinary Shares, the Company's issued share capital will consist of 360,132,042 Ordinary Shares with voting rights.

The funds raised will be utilised to support the ongoing development of Ascent's European focussed portfolio, details of which were announced in the Company's pre AGM trading statement on 23rd July 2009. The Company's schedule for near term development work on its assets includes: 

Ascent Managing Director Jeremy Eng said, "We have a busy work programme for the remainder of 2009 with activity planned across our European projects. These funds will enable us to support the ongoing development of our current assets and maintain balance across our portfolio."

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For further information visit www.ascentresources.co.uk or contact:

Notes

Ascent Resources plc has a diversified portfolio of some 20 hydrocarbon exploration and development projects across five countries in Europe: Italy, Switzerland, Hungary, Slovenia and Netherlands. Ascent's portfolio contains a solid base of field redevelopment projects with selected exposure to exploration upside. The portfolio is focused primarily on gas and with the exception of the shallow water Netherlands project, all of its projects are located onshore where operating and development costs are substantially lower than they are offshore. Ascent also has an oil and gas asset management joint venture with San Severina Holdings SA, a Swiss based investment company, which is focused on acquiring minority interests and providing investment funding for producing and appraisal or development stage oil and gas projects.

Global Emerging Markets Limited was founded in 1991.  The firm is a US$2.7 billion alternative investment group that manages a diverse set of investments vehicles across the world. GEM's funds include: CITIC/GEM Fund; VC Bank/GEM Mena Fund; Kinderhook; GEM India and Banco Pine/GEM Funds. For further information please visit www.gemny.com.