new cleo completes SPAC merger with $247 million in gross proceeds
Preliminary unaudited cash stood at about EUR233 million on September 30, after a first-half net loss of EUR82.0 million.
Key facts
- Gross proceeds: about $31 million released from the SPAC trust, $216 million from PIPE
- First-half revenue from products and services EUR19.4 million, up 46% year on year
- Main vessel and turbine installed for 10 MWt PRECURSOR non-nuclear demonstration reactor at Brasimone, Italy
- Regulatory engagement plans filed with NRC for LFR-AS-200 reactor and Aiken, South Carolina MOX facility
- ASNR gave an overall satisfactory opinion on MOX facility safety features on July 17
new cleo plc completed its business combination with NewHold Investment Corp III on September 21, generating gross proceeds of about $247 million, the company said on October 2 in reporting first-half results. The total comprised about $31 million released from the SPAC's trust account and $216 million from PIPE financing. Its ordinary shares and warrants began trading on the Nasdaq Global Select Market on September 22 under "NWCL" and "NWCLW". new cleo raised a further $18.7 million outside the combination since May 2026, bringing total funds raised since its founding to more than $1 billion.
For the six months to June 30, revenue from products and services was €19.4 million, up about 46% on the €13.3 million of a year earlier, and the net loss was €82.0 million, about 10% wider. Capital expenditure was €25.3 million and selling, general and administrative expenses €59.2 million, up 37% and about 21% respectively. Cash and cash equivalents stood at €66.5 million at June 30 and, on a preliminary unaudited basis, at about €233 million at September 30.
Two regulatory plans filed with the NRC
new cleo submitted a Regulatory Engagement Plan to the NRC for a planned mixed-oxide fuel fabrication facility in Aiken, South Carolina, on August 6, after a REP for its LFR-AS-200 lead-cooled fast reactor on July 14. On July 17 the French Nuclear Safety and Radiation Protection Authority gave an overall satisfactory evaluation of the proposed safety features of new cleo's planned MOX facility in France. The company said it is awaiting that authority's opinion on the reactor design's safety features.
PRECURSOR vessel and turbine installed
At ENEA's Brasimone research center outside Bologna, new cleo installed the main vessel and turbine of PRECURSOR, its 10 MWt non-nuclear demonstration reactor. new cleo said it expects construction to be completed by the end of 2026, with at-scale validation of systems to begin afterwards.
On May 26 the U.S. Department of Energy selected new cleo, in partnership with Oklo, for advanced negotiations under the Surplus Plutonium Utilization Program. On June 30 new cleo agreed to acquire Bonifait Pesage, a French manufacturer of nuclear-grade scales and precision weighing equipment, and said it expects the deal to close in the fourth quarter of 2026 subject to customary closing conditions. Jeffrey Lyash, former chief executive of the Tennessee Valley Authority, was named chairman of the board on September 9. William D. Magwood, director-general of the OECD Nuclear Energy Agency, becomes vice-chairman on January 1, 2027.