A firm based in the European nation of Luxembourg has created a nuclear investment fund for institutional and major private investors.
Trident Investment (the firm) has already raised significant capital for the new “Triton” fund and has or will soon be buying up physical uranium, S&P Global (NYSE: SPGI) reported Wednesday. The agency, which has not specified how much it has raised, wants to enable investors to select an assortment of nuclear-related areas to put their dollars into.
Over the next five years, the fund seeks to establish partnerships with uranium producers and others involved with mines in the pre-production stages. Potential customers of the fund include banks, asset managers, sovereign wealth funds, pension funds and family offices, a representative said.
Fund managers like Trident make their money by collecting management and performance fees from investors.
“It could be, for example, mining,” Patrick Franz, Managing Director of Trident’s Swiss asset management fund PFYN Capital, told S&P. “Or potentially access to enrichment facilities or conversion facilities.”
“But it could go as far as an investor putting their funds in and saying ‘we really want to build a whole fleet of small modular reactors, even large reactors, in a public-private partnership,'” Franz added.
Junior miners will be a significant focus too. Up-and-comers in this field include companies like Stallion Uranium Corp. (TSX-V: STUD), ATHA Energy Corp. (TSX-V: SASK) (OTCQB: SASKF) (FRA: X5U) and Forum Energy Metals Corp. (TSX-V: FMC).
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Uranium ETFs gain steam
These exchange-traded funds include the Sprott Uranium Miners ETF (NYSEARCA: URNM), the Sprott Junior Uranium Miners ETF (Nasdaq: URNJ) and the VanEck Uranium and Nuclear Tech UCITS ETF USD A (LON: NUCL).
The investment firm Courtville Partners just bought a significant amount of the VanEck ETF, which now accounts for 2 per cent of its portfolio. That fund’s value has ascended by over 58 per cent in the past year.
Uranium has taken a slight dip down after ascending past the US$100 per pound mark in early 2024. It is currently worth about US$90/lb.
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