US-based BioAmber, which plans to convert agricultural crops into a material used in the manufacture of plastics, completed a US$80 million initial public offering recently. It was at the low end of its expectations. Proceeds of the offering will be used to build a manufacturing plant in Sarnia, Ontario, northeast of Detroit in the US.

BioAmber’s business model is to make a basic constituent of industrial plastic by fermenting agricultural crops such as corn or wheat. The company says that it believes it will be less expensive to make the plastics component from crops than from oil.