DL E&C said its stake in U.S. small modular reactor developer X-energy has surged in value after the company’s successful Nasdaq listing, rising nearly sixfold in about three years.
DL E&C said Tuesday that the value of its holdings increased to about 172 billion won after X-energy’s initial public offering. The stake was worth $20 million (about 30 billion won) when DL E&C joined X-energy’s Series C round in January 2023, meaning the value has grown about 5.7 times.
The gain followed a sharp rise in X-energy’s share price after listing. X-energy began trading on Nasdaq on April 24 local time. Its IPO price was set at $23, above the top of the indicated range of $19. The stock closed at $29.20 on its first day and rose about 50% over the next three sessions, reaching $34.11 as of April 28.
The IPO also set a record for fundraising by a nuclear power company, DL E&C said. X-energy raised more than $1 billion (about 1.475 trillion won) in the offering. The industry has attributed stronger SMR investment demand to rising electricity needs tied to the spread of artificial intelligence, the company said.
X-energy, backed by the U.S. Department of Energy, is developing a fourth-generation SMR and holds high-temperature gas-cooled reactor technology that uses high-temperature helium gas for cooling. DL E&C said X-energy is working with Amazon, Dow and Centrica and has secured an 11-gigawatt pipeline.
DL E&C said it has built a strategic partnership with X-energy as an early-stage investor, aiming to make SMRs a next growth engine and create synergies with its plant business. The company recently began deeper cooperation by taking on X-energy’s standardized SMR design work. The contract signed last month is worth $10 million (about 15 billion won) and is the first case in which a South Korean construction company is paid directly by an SMR developer to perform design work, DL E&C said.
DL E&C said it plans to strengthen competitiveness across both large-scale nuclear plants and SMRs, building on its experience in projects including Hanbit units 5 and 6 and Shin Kori units 1 and 2.
SMRs are small reactors with electric output of 300 megawatts or less and are viewed as a way to support carbon neutrality while providing stable power. The U.K. National Nuclear Laboratory has projected the global SMR market could reach about $500 billion (about 740 trillion won) by 2035.
Yoo Jae-ho, head of DL E&C’s plant business division, said, “As X-energy is being valued highly by the market, we expect a virtuous cycle that leads to an increase in the value of our stake.” He added, “We will expand SMR-related investment to strengthen our global competitiveness.”
* This article has been translated by AI.
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