Proost Ventures, the independent advisory firm, acted as exclusive financial advisor to the Belgian Nuclear Research Centre (SCK•CEN) on raising EUR 558 million from the Belgian federal Government to build and operate its new research infrastructure MYRRHA Phase 1. The new funding will enable SCK•CEN to start construction of the research facility based on stable, long-term funding. A first intermediate success, resulting also from SCK•CEN's efforts in prior years was when the Belgian Government in September 2017 added the support of the Federal Secretary of State Mr. Pieter De Crem to act as representative of the project to foreign countries. On September 7th 2018, the Council of Ministries confirmed the investment by the Belgian federal Government of EUR 558 million in MYRRHA.
Client testimonial
“Proost Ventures advisory, based on the existing situation of the project, co-orchestrated a well-managed process, resulting in a strong outcome for MYRRHA in securing a long-term investment commitment from the Belgian Government. Proost Ventures advisory worked tirelessly in the past 2 years supporting the SCK•CEN team and clearly communicating MYRRHA’s differentiated value proposition to prospective investors,” said Dr. Hamid Aït Abderrahim, the Programme Director of MYRRHA. “The full investment of the first phase, based on the Investment Memorandum and sell-side process was confirmed by the decision of the Council of Ministries on September 7th 2018” added Dr. Abderrahim.
Press coverage
About the MYRRHA Project
MYRRHA (Multipurpose hYbrid Research Reactor for High-tech Applications) is a flexible research infrastructure driven by a particle accelerator (ADS) which paves the way to numerous promising technologies and applications. MYRRHA significantly contributes to trying to solve the problem of nuclear waste management: firstly, thanks to the demonstration at pre-industrial scale of the ADS concept and the efficiency of transmutation as a treatment technique for high-level radioactive waste and secondly, by using natural resources of uranium more efficiently and, in doing so, reducing the quantity of primary nuclear waste. Transmutation decreases the amount of high-level radiotoxic waste by a factor of a hundred and reduces their radiotoxicity period from some hundreds of thousands of years to some hundreds of years. MYRRHA is also designed to produce and develop radioisotopes essential to diagnose and treat cancer. In terms of socio-economic impact, MYRRHA will generate approximately 700 full-time jobs, both directly and indirectly during the period of construction and operation.
The investment and commitment of the Belgian government will help carrying out the first important part of MYRRHA: building the most complex part, in terms of technology, of its particle accelerator and irradiation stations on SCK•CEN’s premises in Mol. These will produce innovative theranostic radioisotopes as soon as 2027 and will promote fundamental research on radioactive beams and applied research on fusion materials.
About Proost Ventures
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About SCK•CEN
65 years of experience in nuclear science and technology
The Belgian Nuclear Research Centre (SCK•CEN) is one of Belgium’s largest research centres. As a foundation of public utility, SCK•CEN receives a grant from the federal government covering 45% of its running costs and investments; the remaining 55% come from its own revenues. It has more than 750 employees who devote themselves every day to developing peaceful applications of nuclear energy. The Centre develops lasting technologies with a great deal of added value for society. The research activities of SCK•CEN relate to three main themes: the safety of nuclear facilities, sustainable management of radioactive waste and protecting the population and the environment against ionising radiation. SCK•CEN is recognised worldwide and shares its knowledge through numerous publications and training courses in order to keep up this exceptional pool of talent. More info: www.sckcen.be