Baker and McKenzie advised Gippsland Offshore Petroleum Limited on its Australian Stock Exchange listing (the first listing of the year) and capital raising of $12 million. The capital will be used to fund proposed activities and future opportunities principally in the offshore area of the Gippsland Basin. The listing follows the oil and gas exploration company’s prospectus, which offered 60 million ordinary fully paid shares at a cost of 20 cents each and closed over-subscribed. Unusually, the float was not underwritten or broker sponsored, yet the company had more than 1100 shareholders on listing, an indication of investor interest in the Gippsland Basin. Melbourne-based partner Richard Lustig led the Baker and McKenzie team, which completed the prospectus preparation and lodgement in just one month. “The IPO was characterised by its timely implementation in full satisfaction of regulatory requirements,” Lustig said. “A one month ‘hard at it’ process was effective to bring about the desired result.” He said this was an exception to the general rule that a float takes a minimum of three months to organise.