Regal Petroleum’s colourful stock market career took a further twist on Thursday when it said it would raise £80m from a placing to develop its Ukrainian gas reserves.

The oil and gas company also revealed that it had been the subject of investigations by the Financial Services Authority and the London Stock Exchange over the failure of its Greek oil exploration, which in 2005 led to a sharp fall in the share price and the ousting of the group’s founder Frank Timis, who was chairman and chief executive.