Forest of Dean-based advanced materials engineering group Versarien has raised £615,000 (before expenses) by way of a placing of shares.

The money has been raised through the placing of 492,000,000 new ordinary shares in the capital of the company at a price of 0.125 pence per share.

The net proceeds of the placing will be used for corporate and working capital purposes as the company continues to progress its turnaround strategy following the recent sale of its South Korean assets and licensing agreement with Montana Química LTDA.

The issue of the placing shares utilises the remaining authorities granted by shareholders at the general meeting of the company held on January 10 and therefore no shareholder approval is required for the Placing

The Versarien board says it has confidence that the strategy is working. The company continues to pursue a variety of commercial opportunities in its target markets of construction and leisure, and in other areas.

As announced on March 11, the company's mature businesses, AAC Cyroma Ltd and Total Carbide Ltd, continue to be marketed for sale and the company is progressing discussions with interested parties.

Stephen Hodge, chief executive officer of Versarien, said: "We are very pleased to have raised these funds which will facilitate further progress following the positive developments regarding the sale of the South Korean assets and licensing deal with Montana, and will assist in laying the foundations for us to implement a longer-term strategy for the business. We look forward to providing further updates in due course."