UK law firm Shepherd and Wedderburn has advised Cairn Energy on its placing of new shares to raise approximately £116.1m.

Partners Paul Hally and Stephen Trombala led the Shepherd and Wedderburn team. Paul said: "The placing shows that despite difficult stock market conditions there are still fundraisings to be done on the public markets."

Sir Bill Gammell, Chief Executive of Cairn Energy, said: "Cairn is well positioned to deliver value from its world class fields in Rajasthan where first production will commence in 2009.

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"At the same time exploration efforts continue across our exciting acreage in Greenland, where we are looking at options to accelerate drilling, possibly into 2010."

Sir Bill said the funds raised from the placing announced last Monday, along with current debt facilities, cash resources and cash flow from operations, enable the business to retain the financial and operational flexibility necessary for the next phase of growth and the "continued delivery" of shareholder value.

This deal follows recent work by Shepherd and Wedderburn's equity capital markets team on the £12.5bn British Energy bid.

(GK/JM)