Corrs Chambers Westgarth has advised the company since its early days, and the law firm assisted with the capital raising and listing.

“It was terrific to see the company’s long-term plans come to fruition. There was great collaboration with both our Brisbane and Sydney offices who offered assistance based on our recent experience with AIM listings for Peptech Ltd and Ceramic Fuel Cells Ltd,” said the lead partner on the deal, Jeremy McCarthy.

Corrs’ team advised Plantic on due diligence, the documents for admission to the market and verification, and the overall structure of the offer with respect to matters of Australian law.

Field Fisher Waterhouse, led by partner Anthony Brockbank and assisted by Brad Isaac and Tom Martin, advised Plantic in the UK. Jones Day acted for Libertas Capital, which was the broker and the “Nomad”.

Nomads are “nominated advisers” who warrant to the London Stock Exchange that a company is appropriate to join AIM. The nominated adviser is either an independent corporate finance firm, an accountant or a broker.

Plantic listed at 64p, and has reached a high of 83p so far. Last week, it was recording highs of 74p. Market capitalisation for the firm on the initial offer price was £50.9 ($119.5) million.

The company develops, manufactures and distributes biodegradable plastics based on corn starch. Products include disposable food trays and cups, and packaging for confectionary. It can also be used in a resin form for injection moulding, and can be incorporated with other plastics.

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The net proceeds of £18.4 ($43.4) million available after deducting listing fees are being used for research and development, new product commercialisation, manufacturing and further capital expenditure.

“The new funds will enable us to expand our range of unique biodegradable plastics,” Grant Dow, managing director and chief executive of Plantic, said in a statement.

“Our vision is for consumers everywhere to use Plantic-based products that play a significant role in reducing the world’s waste problem.”

Set up in 1995, AIM is targeted at smaller companies that want to raise capital. It has more flexible regulatory requirements, and companies do not need to prove a financial track record or trading history. There is also no minimum size or number of shareholders.

Corrs’ core project team working with McCarthy on the listing were Vanessa Smith, Sara Georgandas, Paul Martin and Simon Morris.

Plantic was formed in 2001 to commercialise research developed by the Federal Government-funded Cooperative Research Centre for International Food Manufacture and Packaging Food Science.