* IPO volume more than 100 mln euros -source
* Targeted market cap up to 300 mln euros -source
* Proceeds to be spent on BASF joint venture (Adds equity market conditions, details on renewable plastics)
By Ludwig Burger and Arno Schuetze
FRANKFURT, Oct 12 (Reuters) - Dutch chemical technology firmAvantium will announce an initial public offering (IPO) thisweek to fund production of plant-based plastics for Coca Cola bottles and Danone yoghurt cups, two peoplefamiliar with the plan told Reuters.
Avantium, which earlier tried to float in 2007, andGermany's BASF said last week they would set up ajoint venture and build a facility to produce chemical buildingblocks from plant-based sugars.
The planned market debut comes as uncertainty over China'sgrowth and Britain's Brexit vote have led to jittery markets.Two European companies -- UK gym operator Pure Gym and Germanreal estate company OfficeFirst -- cancelled plans to IPO onTuesday due to unfavourable conditions.
Avantium - which counts Dutch bank ING, Coca Cola,Danone and various venture capital firms among its owners -plans to raise more than 100 million euros ($112 million) fromnew shares, valuing the group at up to 300 million euros, one ofthe sources said.
The proceeds from the Amsterdam IPO, which will be managedby ING and KBC, will foot Avantium's share of the costsof setting up the new facility, the sources said.
Avantium and ING declined to comment, while KBC was notimmediately available for comment.
Spun off from Royal Dutch Shell in 2000, Avantiumhas developed a chemical production procedure that feeds onfructose from plants rather than conventional oil derivatives.
Cost has been a major hurdle to renewable plastics becomingmainstream, but Avantium says its method is cost-competitive.
Its process yields a chemical building block which can befurther processed into a bioplastic that the company says ismore robust than the widely used PET and can also be used intextiles as well as electronics and automotive components.
The bioplastic, which will also be used by Mitsui Chemicals, can be recycled by existing PET facilities.
While many consumers prefer renewable-labelled packaging,they are only prepared to pay slightly more than the price ofpetroleum-based equivalents, analysts say.
Developers of renewable plastics have long focused ongenetically engineered microbes that can ferment carbohydratesfrom plants into chemical building blocks, but non-biologicapproaches based on catalysts that enable chemical reactions,such as the one used by Avantium, have also gained traction.($1 = 0.8928 euros) (Additional reporting by Toby Sterling in Amsterdam; Editing byGeorgina Prodhan and Alexander Smith)
