South Korea's EcoPro BM to invest in $810 mln cathode plant in Hungary

ECOPRO

08/12/2021 13:10

BUDAPEST, Dec 8 (Reuters) - South Korea's EcoPro BM
 247540.KQ  plans to build a factory in Hungary to produce
cathodes used in electric car batteries, Hungary's Foreign
Minister Peter Szijjarto said in a Facebook video on Wednesday.
    The investment is worth 264 billion forints ($810 million)
and the first phase of the construction is planned to be
finished by the second half of 2024 in the eastern town of
Debrecen. The second phase will finish a year later.
    "As the car industry constitutes 30% of the total
manufacturing industry output, it is decisive for future
economic growth to attract more and more investment in the
electric car sector into Hungary," Szijjarto said.
    He said the Hungarian government was providing a grant to
EcoPro BM, the amount of which will be published after the
European Commission is notified of the deal.
    The plant will have a capacity to produce 108,000 tonnes of
cathodes annually, enough to supply 1.35 million electric cars. 
    "The fast-growing European market is a very good opportunity
for EcoPro ... this is our first foreign investment and an
important step," EcoPro BM's CEO Kwon Woo-seuk said after the
agreement.
    Ecopro Co Ltd  086520.KQ  is a Korea-based company
principally engaged in the manufacture and sale of secondary
battery materials. 

($1 = 325.8400 forints)

 (Reporting by Anita Komuves; editing by David Evans)
 ((KOMUVES.Anita@thomsonreuters.com;))