Private equity fund to take over 39.5% stake in Romanian SMR project

DS Private Equity (DSPE) is reportedly entering ownership in RoPower Nuclear, a project firm working to build a small modular reactor (SMR) in Romania. In a proposed capital increase, current co-owners Nuclearelectrica and Nova Power and Gas, now at 50% each, would land at 46.5% and 14%, respectively. The South Korean firm’s DSPE Beta Private Equity Fund would control the remaining stake in the Doicești project.

RoPower Nuclear is getting a third co-owner. The joint venture established for the SMR project northwest of Bucharest is about to get a capital increase as part of the financing process, according to a document that Profit.ro obtained.

State-owned Nuclearelectrica, which operates Romania’s Cernavoda nuclear power plant, and Nova Power and Gas (NPG) of the E-Infra group, now own 50% each. Under a new deal, DSPE Beta Private Equity Fund, controlled by DS Private Equity from South Korea, would contribute EUR 68 million in cash and get a 39.5% stake, the report reveals.

Nuclearelectrica to be biggest shareholder

Nuclearelectrica has earmarked EUR 76 million, with an option to convert part of its loans to RoPower Nuclear into ownership, instead of providing cash, the article reads. It would lower the company’s stake to 46.5%.

NPG would add EUR 20 million and have 14% after the transaction. E-Infra is controlled by Romanian entrepreneurs Teofil Mureșan, Simion Mureșan and Marian Pantazescu.

The proposed agreement would lift the project firm’s capital from EUR 8 million to EUR 172 million. DSPE is a shareholder in NuScale Power, which owns the technology for the planned SMR facility of 462 MW. It would be built in Doicești in Dâmbovița county in the Muntenia region. It is the site of a former coal plant.

DSPE could bring KEXIM, Samsung on board

NuScale, based in Oregon in the United States, recently said that it expects Romania to reach a final investment decision early in the second quarter of next year at the latest.

DSPE can bolster the project through its relationship with financial institutions such as Korea Export-Import Bank (KEXIM) and potential contractors including Samsung, the news outlet learned.

The Ministry of Energy in Bucharest earlier estimated the cost of the Doicești project at EUR 4.9 billion.