Sustainable chemical maker BioAmber raised $80m (€62.2m) in an initial public offering of its stock on 10 May.
But the firm already is getting a taste of life as a public company, as its per-share stock price fell from $10 (€7.77) to $8 (€6.22) in its first five days of trading. Minneapolis-based BioAmber produces bio-based succinic acid, which is a feedstock for bio-based polybutylene succinic polymers.
BioAmber has operated a plant in Pomacle, France, since early 2010. The firm also plans to build a $125m (€97.1m) plant with almost 70 million pounds of capacity in Sarnia, Ontario, through a joint venture with Japanese plastics and chemicals maker Mitsui. That plant is expected to open in 2014 and will be co-located with facilities operated by German materials firm Lanxess. Both Mitsui and Lanxess are investors in BioAmber.
In the first quarter of 2013, BioAmber posted sales of about $330,000 (€256,445), down 13% from the same quarter in 2012. The firm also posted a loss of $9.6m (€7.5m) for the quarter after losing $10.1m (€7.8m) in the year-ago period.