South Korea's EcoPro Materials soars in stock market debut

SEOUL -- EcoPro Materials, a South Korean electric vehicle battery materials company, made a surprisingly strong debut on Seoul's main stock exchange on Friday, with its shares closing up 58% from its initial public offering price.

The Pohang-based company raised 419.2 billion won ($323.3 million) in net proceeds from its initial public offering. It plans to invest 311.6 billion won in building production facilities. The IPO was the second-largest on the KOSPI exchange this year after Doosan Robotics brought in 421.2 billion won in September.