Camden’s Holtec hopes to raise $750 million in an IPO, as Wall Street signs on
Holtec is looking to further the company’s vision for small nuclear reactors that can be swapped in and out of power grids.
Holtec Nuclear Corp., a Camden company best known for servicing spent uranium fuel and shutting down aging nuclear power plants, is trying to raise more than $750 million by going public.
The company plans to use the money to further its vision for new products including small nuclear reactors that can be swapped in and out of power grids without shutting down a nuclear station.
The company, led by CEO Krishna P. Singh, and its share salespeople are trying to sell at least 50 million shares at more than $15 a share. They plan to list the company on the Nasdaq Stock Market under the symbol HNUC, according to a preliminary prospectus filed Tuesday with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
The new filing adds details to the initial public stock offering proposal Holtec announced in July. No date has been set.
Proceeds of the sale would be used to build and sell small reactors, Green Boiler power batteries, uranium storage facilities, and for new markets such as cybersecurity and military products.
J.P. Morgan, Guggenheim Securities, Goldman Sachs & Co., Citigroup, and Bank of America’s securities arm are leading the sales effort and “road show” marketing Holtec to big investors. Morgan Stanley, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick’s Cantor Fitzgerald, and other firms also are participating, according to the SEC filing.
Holtec said in the statement that the company expects to cash in on a “surge” in demand for electric power in general — and nuclear-powered plants in particular — to supply data centers, compensate for increasingly extreme weather, and meet power needs for other new customers.
Risk factors Holtec disclosed include that the company’s plans “are premised on assumptions regarding future electricity demand, utilization levels, and long-term market conditions that may not be fully realized,” a potential pullback in data center and artificial intelligence power demand, and changes in government regulators’ or the public’s support of nuclear energy.
Founder Singh, who will be 80 next year, would control a disproportionately large 10 votes for each of his Class B shares, giving him 99% of the vote in naming board members and other shareholder decisions, sharply limiting the influence of investors buying Class A common shares in the offering.
As members of the Holtec board, Singh and his wife, Martha, a real estate investor, form a “concentration of ownership” that “may not be fully aligned with the interests” of shareholders buying into the IPO, the company warned potential investors. There are also four independent directors, including Susan N. Story, former CEO of Camden-based American Water Works.
The company employs around 4,150 people at facilities including its Advanced Manufacturing Division in Camden and manufacturing units in Pittsburgh and Orrville, Ohio, according to the prospectus.
