Bio-succinic acid producer Myriant Corporation has requested the withdrawal of its IPO (initial public offering) registration to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Myriant initially filed its IPO on May 27, 2011.

Myriant said it does not intend to pursue the contemplated public offering at this time and believes the withdrawal to be consistent with the public interest and the protection of investors. The Registration Statement was not declared effective by the Commission under the Act, and no securities were issued or sold pursuant to the Registration Statement.

It is not that easy for renewable chemical companies to enter the public market given the less-than-enthusiastic investor reception for those who are already publicly traded (such as Gevo, Amyris, Codexis, Metabolix…).

Last year, Elevance has withdrawn its IPO registration in September (it filed in September 2011); Genomatica withdrew in August (filed in August 2012); Cathay Industrial Biotechnologies withdrew in June (filed in June 2011); and Enerkem in April (filed in January 2012). Fulcrum BioEnergy withdrew its IPO filing in late 2012.

BioAmber, however, has pushed through with its IPO last year, as well as Solazyme, Coskata, Kior, Renewable Energy Group, Ceres, METabolic EXplorer, and Global Bioenergies.