UPDATE 3-Solar company STR Holdings up over 9 pct after IPO
* IPO priced below target range
* IPO priced a day later than expected
* Shares close up $3.10, or 31 pct, at $13.10 (Updates shares, board members, adds dateline LOS ANGELES)
NEW YORK/LOS ANGELES, Nov 6 (Reuters) - Stock in STR Holdings Inc (STRI.N) soared more than 30 percent on Friday after its initial public offering -- the first U.S.-listed IPO from a solar company in 15 months.
Shares of STR closed up $3.10, or 31 percent, in trading on the New York Stock Exchange, after opening at $10 per share.
Earlier in the day, STR priced its IPO of 12.3 million shares at $10 a share, below the target range and a day later than expected.
The Enfield, Connecticut-based company, which makes parts called solar power module encapsulants, started trading on the NYSE under the symbol STRI.
On Thursday, it had cut the price range of the IPO -- the first from a U.S.-listed solar company in more than a year -- to between $11 and $13, down from a previous estimate of $13 to $15 price.
The company also said on Friday that two new members joined its board of directors -- Scott Brown, chief executive at New Energy Capital LLC, and Andrew Leitch, who previously was an audit partner at Deloitte & Touche LLP. The company expanded its board to eight members as part of its public offering.
STR was founded in 1944 as a plastics research and development company. Its encapsulants protect a solar module's semiconductor circuit.
The company plans to use $15 million from the offering to pay down debt, with the remainder for working capital and general corporate purposes, according to its offering prospectus. (Reporting by Steve James in New York and Laura Isensee in Los Angeles; Editing by Leslie Gevirtz, Gary Hill)
