Danimer Scientific ($DNMR) went public Wednesday on the New York Stock Exchange following the completion of a merger with special purpose acquisition vehicle Live Oak. The combined company saw shares jump 20 percent to $30.50 at the open before sinking to $23.80 at the market's close.
The Georgia-based company, which specializes in producing polymers for biodegradable plastic products, counts PepsiCo, Nestlé, and Bacardi among its customers.
The SPAC deal came after a year that brought challenges and opportunities to the chemical company. Danimer launched its signature polymer, Nodax, back in March, after retrofitting one-third of a used fermentation facility in Winchester, Kentucky, but soon ran head-on into the coronavirus pandemic.
"Two days after we shipped the first load, the COVID shutdown came," CEO Stephen Croskrey told Cheddar. "The first lesson learned is: don't launch a new technology in the middle of a plague."
The shutdown disrupted the second phase of financing for the manufacturing facility, which led the company to seek out new funding sources.
In the meantime, orders stacked up from industry giants such as PepsiCo and Nestlé. Croskrey said this put pressure on Danimer to ramp-up production as quickly as possible.
Ultimately, the company "stumbled into the SPAC world" because it offered faster funding to continue the expansion of its Nodax plant.
"We needed to get that going quickly, and the SPAC did that for us," Croskrey said.
The possibilities for Danimer's Nodax are expansive. The biopolymer resin offers an alternative to petroleum-based resins by using canola oil as a primary feedstock. It's the first polymer to be certified as "marine degradable." This is the highest standard of biodegradability and means it can completely degrade in ocean water without leaving behind microplastics.
Danimer claims its biopolymer will break down in the ocean within 40 days.
Most degradable biopolymers, Croskrey explained, actually require an industrial composting facility using high-heat moisture to break down the plastic.
Going forward, the company plans to continue producing resins for single-use plastics.
"Our focus is on single-use plastics because that's where most environmental damage is done," Croskrey said. "If you think about a pound of plastic that goes to make a car bumper, versus a pound of plastic that goes to make snack food packaging that might last all of 15 minutes and then end up in the ocean, obviously the target for us are those single-use plastics."
"Anything that you can think of in that category is fair game for us," he added.
A big-screen adaptation of the anime “Chainsaw Man” has topped the North American box office, beating a Springsteen biopic and “Black Phone 2.” The movie earned $17.25 million in the U.S. and Canada this weekend. “Black Phone 2” fell to second place with $13 million. Two new releases, the rom-com “Regretting You” and “Springsteen — Deliver Me From Nowhere,” earned $12.85 million and $9.1 million, respectively. “Chainsaw Man – The Movie: Reze Arc” is based on the manga series about a demon hunter. It's another win for Sony-owned Crunchyroll, which also released a “Demon Slayer” film last month that debuted to a record $70 million.
The Federal Aviation Administration says flights departing for Los Angeles International Airport were halted briefly due to a staffing shortage at a Southern California air traffic facility. The FAA issued a temporary ground stop at one of the world’s busiest airports on Sunday morning soon after U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy predicted that travelers would see more flights delayed as the nation’s air traffic controllers work without pay during the federal government shutdown. The hold on planes taking off for LAX lasted an hour and 45 minutes and didn't appear to cause continued problems. The FAA said staffing shortages also delayed planes headed to Washington, Chicago and Newark, New Jersey on Sunday.
Boeing workers at three Midwest plants where military aircraft and weapons are developed have voted to reject the company’s latest contract offer and to continue a strike that started almost three months ago. The strike by about 3,200 machinists at the plants in the Missouri cities of St. Louis and St. Charles, and in Mascoutah, Illinois, is smaller in scale than a walkout last year by 33,000 Boeing workers who assemble commercial jetliners. The president of the International Association of Machinists says Sunday's outcome shows Boeing hasn't adequately addressed wages and retirement benefits. Boeing says Sunday's vote was close with 51% of union members opposing the revised offer.
The stunning indictment that led to the arrest of more than 30 people — including Miami Heat guard Terry Rozier and other NBA figures — has drawn new scrutiny of the booming business of sports betting in the U.S. The multibillion-dollar industry has made it easy for sports fans — and even some players — to wager on everything from the outcome of games to that of a single play with just a few taps of a cellphone. But regulating the rapidly-growing industry has proven to be a challenge. Professional sports leagues’ own role in promoting gambling has also raised eyebrows.
Tesla, the car company run by Elon Musk, reported Wednesday that it sold more vehicles in the past three months after boycotts hit hard earlier this year, but profits still fell sharply. Third-quarter earnings fell to $1.4 billion, from $2.2 billion a year earlier. Excluding charges, per share profit of 50 cents came in below analysts' estimate. Tesla shares fell 3.5% in after-hours trading. Musk said the company's robotaxi service, which is available in Austin, Texas, and San Francisco, will roll out to as many as 10 other metro areas by the end of the year.
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