Corporate: Strategic investor likes Papyrus' fibre from bananas idea; shares double

Papyrus (ASX:PPY), which makes waste trunks of banana palms into an alternative for wood-based paper products, has gained a new strategic investor this morning.

Sydney-based hemp producer Union Pacific Equities has bought 20 per cent of the company for 1c per share.

According to Papyrus, Union Pacific is seeking to apply the technology to its residual fibre processing and will bring a substantial international business network.

Papyrus began in 1995 and listed in 2005, reaching as high as 91c in 2007 after a patent win, but made a substantial retreat as successful commercialisation eluded it.

Papyrus boss Ramy Azer argued this investment was “an enormous vote of confidence in Papyrus, it’s world class technology and importantly in the company’s future”.

He said the technology would also assist in the reduction of greenhouse gases. Stockhead has contacted the company for further comment.

After hitting a low of 0.4c in June, Papyrus shares spiked to 1.2c last week and this morning more than doubled, rising to 2.5c.

In other ASX corporate news today:

PointsBet (ASX:PBH) appointed a former Nevada state senator to its board. Becky Harris, who has also been chairwoman of the Nevada Gaming Control Board, is now a non-executive director of the company from today. Chairman Brett Paton said he could not think of a better set of skills to assist the board. The company also relayed to shareholders that Colarado legalised sports betting with the passage of Proposition DD. It anticipates launching operations in the Centennial State next year.

Bubs Australia (ASX:BUB) is entering the Vietnamese market. It launched two distribution agreements, one with local distributor TVV and the second with Vietnamese baby store chain Bibo Mart. The company says the Vietnamese infant formula market is worth $2.2 billion and growing at 7.7 per cent annually.

Namoi Cotton (ASX:NAM) announced it settled a legal dispute in relation to its partnership with Cargill Oilseeds. While the settlement terms remained confidential, the company said there would be no material impact on this year’s earnings.