LanzaTech to launch initial public offering by second half of 2012

After securing US$55 million in new funding from local and offshore investors, LanzaTech said it is considering listing on the New Zealand stock exchange later this year. LanzaTech is a biofuels developer which owns a proprietary microbe technology that converts industrial waste gases into valuable chemicals such as ethanol, which are then used to make biofuel. LanzaTech CEO Jennifer Holmgren said the company will proceed with an initial public offering during the second half of 2012, after it has proven its technology at a demonstration facility which is now being commissioned at a Chinese steel plant. The company was founded in 2005 and since then, it has raised more than US$85 million. Existing investors are U.S.-based Khosla Ventures, Qiming Ventures of China and New Zealand’s K1W1. New investors include Petronas Technology Ventures, the investment arm of Malaysia’s national oil company, Petronas and Dialog Group, another Malaysian company. (February 2, 2012)