Shares in Afren rose ¼p to 90p yesterday after the oil and gas group raised £104.9 million in a share placing to fund projects and future acquisitions. The group, which said last week that it would move from AIM to the main list of the London Stock Exchange early next month, said that it had placed 129.5 million shares at 81p.

The Africa-focused group also said that some of its founding shareholders would exercise warrants relating to 40 million shares, raising £15 million. It added that first production from its Ebok field was on track for the first half of next year.

Credit Suisse said that the fundraising could be an opportunistic move after the stock’s recent good run. It noted that Afren had stated on numerous occasions that it was looking for further deals near the Ebok field in Nigeria.

BSS Group fell 3½p to 255p despite Collins Stewart starting coverage on the stock with a “buy” rating and a target price of 315p. The broker said that BSS was a rare breed in the British building sector, given that it did not need to hold a rights issue and that, as such, it could strengthen its position during the downturn.

African Medical Investments was unchanged at 21p after completing the first drawdown under its equity line agreement with Harbinger Capital Partners, the US hedge fund, which has subscribed for 74 million shares at 18p, raising $20.25 million (£12 million).

GMA Resources fell 0.38p to 3¾p after the AIM-listed miner said that production continued to fall short of forecasts.

Pangea DiamondFields rose 0.38p to 1.60p after getting a higher price than expected when selling diamonds from its Cassanguidi project.

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