Korean corporations that invested in U.S. companies to enter the global small modular reactor (SMR) business are moving to sell their equity. As SMR developers' share prices have surged recently, they are seen as seeking to lock in gains by selling shares while maintaining strategic partnerships to preserve practical benefits.
On the 26th, according to filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, Samsung C&T sold 3.6 million of the 5.18 million NuScale Power shares it held in the fourth quarter of last year. In 2021, Samsung C&T invested about $70 million (about 101.2 billion won) in NuScale Power as a strategic investor (SI), securing a 5% equity. With this sale, Samsung C&T's equity stake in NuScale Power fell to 1.5%.
Samsung C&T is estimated to have booked profits in the hundreds of billions of won by selling NuScale Power shares. When Samsung C&T invested, NuScale Power's share price was around $10, but on growing expectations for SMR commercialization, it rose to the $60 level in Oct. last year. With the expansion of the artificial intelligence (AI) market, power demand to run data centers has surged, sending SMR corporations' share prices sharply higher.
A Samsung C&T official said, "We sold some shares to secure liquidity, but our cooperative relationship with NuScale Power will continue."
NuScale Power focuses on its VOYGR™ design, which produces electricity by connecting up to 12 reactor modules rated at 77 MW. Samsung C&T holds the right of first priority to perform engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) on SMR projects pursued by NuScale Power. NuScale Power is building an SMR complex in the Doicești region of Romania, and Samsung C&T has been participating as a partner since the preliminary design stage.
Not only Samsung C&T but also Doosan Enerbility and GS Energy are SIs of NuScale Power. Other corporations still hold their equity as is, but the possibility of sales has recently been raised. Recently, Fluor, NuScale Power's largest shareholder, said it would sell all of its holdings (14%) by the second quarter of this year.
SK Innovation sold part of its equity in SMR developer TerraPower to Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power Co. (KHNP) last month. KHNP is said to have spent about 60 billion won to buy the equity held by SK Innovation.
TerraPower, an SMR developer founded in 2008 by Bill Gates, is currently building a commercial SMR plant in Wyoming. In 2022, SK Innovation and SK invested $250 million (about 361.5 billion won) in TerraPower, becoming the second-largest shareholder. SK said that even after this equity sale, its position as the second-largest shareholder will be maintained.
With this equity sale, SK Innovation has established a business partnership with KHNP. SK Innovation expects KHNP, which has experience in building and operating large nuclear power plants, to help reduce trial and error in the commercial operation phase of SMRs going forward.
An industry official said, "Samsung C&T and Doosan Enerbility are collaborating with global SMR developers in various ways," adding, "Selling equity in SMR developers that were invested in early does not exclude them from the business, so domestic corporations have recently been moving to realize gains by selling shares."