With oil around $112 (U.S.), portfolio managers are salivating for crude offerings. Add to that their desire to invest in an emerging oil play, and you get the kind of demand that Tourmaline Oil Corp. saw Monday morning for its latest financing.
Coming out of a long weekend, the company initially set out to raise $102-million (Canadian), with proceeds to be put toward repaying debt and expanding the 2011 exploration program from $350-million to $450-million.
The deal was quickly upsized by a whopping 40 per cent to $140-million.
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For those who still don't know the name, Tourmaline is the latest project started by Mike Rose, who is known for his success with Duvernay. The firm went public in late 2010, raising $260-million, and investors have been watching it closely since.
Tourmaline did a private round of flow-through financing in February because it was still in lock-up from its IPO -- meaning it couldn't issue new common shares just yet -- and that $30-million deal blew out. Like the latest offering, that deal was also upsized to $47-million.
The latest deal was Tourmaline's first public offering since the IPO. Peters & Co. led the financing.