Placing of 16,096,800 New Ordinary Shares To Ra...

Not for release, publication or distribution in or into the United States, Australia, Canada, the Republic of South Africa or Japan. This announcement is not an offer for sale of securities in the United States. Securities may not be offered or sold in the United States absent registration or an exemption from registration under the U.S. Securities Act of 1933, as amended. The issuer of the shares has not registered, and does not intend to register, any portion of the offering in the United States and does not intend to conduct a public offering of its securities in the United States. February 16th, 2011 PROVIDENCE RESOURCES P.l.c. PLACING OF 16,096,800 NEW ORDINARY SHARES TO RAISE £41.0 MILLION (US$65.7 MILLION) The Directors of Providence Resources P.l.c. ("Providence" or the "Company"), the London (AIM) and Dublin (ESM) listed oil and gas exploration and production company, are today pleased to announce that they have agreed the terms of a conditional placing for cash of 16,096,800 new ordinary shares of €0.10 each ("Ordinary Shares") at 255p (€3.03) per share, raising gross proceeds of approximately £41.0 million (US$65.7 million) before expenses (the "Placing"). Cenkos Securities plc was sole bookrunner for the transaction and Cenkos Securities plc and J&E Davy acted as co-managers. The Company has, over the past number of years, assembled a leading acreage position offshore Ireland comprising both existing oil and gas discoveries as well as oil and gas exploration assets. The Directors believe that recent advances in technology, infrastructure and commodity pricing support a unique opportunity to test the commercial potential of a number of these assets and so lead to further development of the Company's extensive portfolio offshore Ireland. Accordingly, the Directors have planned a multi-year, multi-well drilling campaign to cover the six basins in which the Company has licence interests. This campaign will target up to 10 wells to be drilled from now through 2013. Simultaneously, the ongoing field re-development programme at Singleton (onshore UK) allows the Company to access greater production rates and higher reserves from this licence. The proceeds of the Placing will, therefore, primarily be used for the Company's multi-well drilling programme of oil and gas prospects in areas of proven oil and gas discoveries offshore Ireland and onshore UK. The Placing will also provide capital for seismic studies to be undertaken on certain of Providence's early stage assets in order to assess their suitability for drilling at a future date. Commenting on the announcement, Tony O'Reilly, Chief Executive of Providence said: "We are very pleased to announce this successful Placing, broadening further our already strong institutional shareholder base. The net proceeds of this Placing will be used to fund drilling and seismic studies on our assets offshore Ireland. The planned drilling programme not only represents the largest drilling programme in our history, but it will also be the largest co-ordinated multi- basin drilling programme ever carried out offshore Ireland. The proceeds of the Placing will enable us to retain a meaningful interest in these assets and will allow us to test the hydrocarbon potential of some of the major basins offshore Ireland, consisting of both high impact exploration and appraisal/development wells. With such a comprehensive programme, we look forward to the exciting results from the development of our asset base". The Placing is conditional upon, inter alia, shareholder approval to be sought at an Extraordinary General Meeting of the Company to be held on 11 March 2011 and admission of the new Ordinary Shares to trading on AIM and ESM. A circular is today being sent to shareholders of the Company, incorporating a notice of the Extraordinary General Meeting. Application will shortly be made for the admission of the new Ordinary Shares to trading on both AIM and ESM ("Admission") and, subject to the receipt of shareholder approval, it is expected that Admission will occur and that dealings will commence on AIM and ESM on 14 March 2011. The new Ordinary Shares will rank pari passu in all respects with the existing Ordinary Shares currently traded on AIM and ESM. Following Admission there will be 49,808,690 Ordinary Shares in issue. Contacts: Providence Resources Plc Tel: +353 1 219 4074 Tony O'Reilly, Chief Executive Powerscourt Tel: +44 207 250 1446 Lisa Kavanagh/Rob Greening Murray Consultants   Tel: +353 1 498 0300 Pauline McAlester/Pauline Dooley Cenkos Securities Plc Tel: +44 207 397 8900 Adrian Hargrave/ Nick Wells J&E Davy Tel: + 353 1 679 6363 John Frain/ Stephen Barry This announcement is for information purposes only and shall not constitute an offer to buy, sell, issue, or subscribe for, or the solicitation of an offer to buy, sell, issue, or subscribe for any shares, nor shall there be any sale of shares in any jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful prior to registration or qualification under the securities laws of any such jurisdiction. This announcement has been issued by and is the sole responsibility of Providence. This announcement contains (or may contain) certain forward-looking statements with respect to certain of Providence's plans and its current goals and expectations relating to its future financial condition and performance and which involve a number of risks and uncertainties. Providence cautions readers that no forward-looking statement is a guarantee of future performance and that actual results could differ materially from those contained in the forward- looking statements. These forward-looking statements can be identified by the fact that they do not relate only to historical or current facts. Forward- looking statements sometimes use words such as 'aim', 'anticipate', 'target', 'expect', 'estimate', 'intend', 'plan', 'goal', 'believe', or other words of similar meaning. By their nature, forward-looking statements involve risk and uncertainty because they relate to future events and circumstances a number of which factors are beyond Providence's control. As a result, Providence's actual future results may differ materially from the plans, goals, and expectations set forth in the forward-looking statements. Providence expressly disclaims any obligation or undertaking to release publicly any updates or revisions to any forward-looking statements contained in this announcement to reflect any changes in Providence's expectations with regard thereto or any changes in events, conditions or circumstances on which any such statement is based. No representation or warranty, express or implied, is or will be made as to, or in relation to, and no responsibility or liability is or will be accepted by Cenkos Securities plc ("Cenkos"), J&E Davy ("Davy"), or by any of their respective affiliates or agents as to, or in relation to, the accuracy or completeness of this announcement or any other written or oral information made available to or publicly available to any interested party or its advisers, and any liability therefore is expressly disclaimed. Cenkos, which is authorised and regulated in the United Kingdom by the FSA, is acting exclusively for the Company and no-one else in connection with the Placing and will not be responsible to anyone other than Providence for providing the protections afforded to customers of Davy or for providing advice to any other person in relation to the Placing or any other matter referred to herein. Davy, which is regulated in Ireland by the Central Bank, is acting exclusively for the Company and no-one else in connection with the Placing and will not be responsible to anyone other than Providence for providing the protections afforded to customers of Davy or for providing advice to any other person in relation to the Placing or any other matter referred to herein. The distribution of this announcement and the offering of the Placing Shares in certain jurisdictions may be restricted by law. No action has been taken by Providence, Cenkos or Davy that would permit an offering of such shares or possession or distribution of this announcement or any other offering or publicity material relating to such shares in any jurisdiction where action for that purpose is required. Persons into whose possession this announcement comes are required by Providence, Cenkos or Davy to inform themselves about, and to observe such restrictions. This announcement is not for distribution directly or indirectly in or into the United States (including its territories and possessions, any State of the United States and the District of Columbia), Canada, Australia or Japan or any jurisdiction into which the same would be unlawful. This announcement does not constitute or form part of an offer or solicitation to purchase or subscribe for shares in the capital of Providence in the United States, Canada, Australia or Japan or any jurisdiction in which such an offer or solicitation is unlawful. In particular, the Placing Shares referred to in this announcement have not been, and will not be, registered under the Securities Act and may not be offered or sold in the United States absent registration or an exemption from the registration requirements under the Securities Act. No public offering of securities of Providence is or will be made in connection with the Placing in Ireland, the United Kingdom, the United States or elsewhere. This announcement is distributed by Thomson Reuters on behalf of Thomson Reuters clients. The owner of this announcement warrants that: (i) the releases contained herein are protected by copyright and other applicable laws; and (ii) they are solely responsible for the content, accuracy and originality of the information contained therein. Source: Providence Resources plc via Thomson Reuters ONE [HUG#1489600]
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