LONDON (ShareCast) - Valiant Petroleum started trading on AIM this morning, valuing the North Sea-focused oil and gas company at £196.8m.

The listing was carried out in conjunction with an equity fundraising of £50m, which was significantly oversubscribed, the group said.

Valiant intends to use the funds raised on AIM, along with existing debt facilities, to reach first production on the West Don and Don South West fields, fund the 2008 drilling program and the approved 2008 budgets of their development fields, Crawford and Causeway.

The group previously raised £63m of equity with institutional investors and $245m of debt facilities provided by the Bank of Scotland.

“We are extremely pleased with the results of our oversubscribed fundraising and listing on AIM - especially given recent volatility in the global equity markets,” said chief executive Peter Buchanan.

“The fundraising and listing on AIM will support our goal of building a balanced asset portfolio in the North Sea and creating shareholder value,” he added.

Oriel Securities acted as nominated adviser and broker and Tristone Capital acted as global bookrunner and broker to the company.

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