General Fusion Targets Nasdaq in $1B Deal to Power AI's Future

VANCOUVER, British Columbia – January 22, 2026 – In a landmark move for the clean energy sector, Canadian fusion pioneer General Fusion has entered into a definitive agreement to merge with Spring Valley Acquisition Corp. III (SVAC), a special purpose acquisition company. The transaction, announced today, paves the way for General Fusion to become a publicly traded company on the Nasdaq under the ticker symbol “GFUZ”.

This proposed business combination implies a pro-forma equity value of approximately US$1 billion for General Fusion. The deal is expected to provide up to US$335 million in capital, comprising US$230 million from SVAC’s trust—assuming no shareholder redemptions—and a crucial US$105 million from a committed and oversubscribed Private Investment in Public Equity (PIPE) financing from institutional investors.

For Pender Growth Fund Inc. (TSXV: PTF), a long-time investor, the deal represents a significant validation of its patient capital strategy. The Vancouver-based fund anticipates its net asset value (NAV) will increase by approximately CAD$27.3 million, or about CAD$3.93 per share, upon the successful completion of the merger, which is slated for mid-2026 pending regulatory and shareholder approvals.

The Race for Limitless Energy

After more than two decades of private research and development, this transaction propels General Fusion onto the public stage, aiming to make it the first pure-play fusion energy company on the market. The company is pursuing a novel approach called Magnetized Target Fusion (MTF), a technology designed to circumvent some of the immense challenges that have long kept fusion energy—the power source of the sun and stars—just out of reach.

Unlike mainstream tokamak designs that rely on massive superconducting magnets or high-powered lasers, General Fusion's MTF system uses a sphere of liquid metal to mechanically compress a magnetized plasma to fusion conditions. The company asserts this approach can be built with existing materials, potentially leading to more durable and cost-effective commercial power plants.

The capital raised from the merger is earmarked to advance its large-scale demonstration machine, the Lawson Machine 26 (LM26), currently operating at its Richmond, B.C. headquarters. This machine, which compresses plasma within a lithium liner at 50% of the planned commercial scale, is central to the company's strategy. The immediate goals for LM26 are to achieve critical plasma heating milestones, first hitting 1 keV (10 million degrees Celsius) and then pushing towards 10 keV (100 million degrees Celsius), a key temperature for fusion reactions. Successfully reaching these targets would significantly de-risk the technology and pave the way for demonstrating net energy gain, the holy grail of fusion research.

General Fusion's public debut comes amid a global surge in fusion investment, which has topped US$15 billion across more than 75 companies. While it aims to be the first publicly traded pure-play, it faces stiff competition from other heavily funded private ventures like Commonwealth Fusion Systems, with its high-field tokamak approach, and Helion Energy, which is developing a pulsed fusion system. With a target of building its first commercial power plant by the mid-2030s, the race is on not just to prove the science but to commercialize it.

Fueling the Digital Revolution

The timing of General Fusion’s public push is no coincidence. The deal arrives as the world confronts a looming energy crunch, driven by factors old and new. The International Energy Agency (IEA) has projected that global energy demand could soar by 40% to 50% by 2035, a staggering increase fueled by electrification, electric mobility, and, most critically, the exponential growth of the digital economy.

Artificial intelligence and the massive data centers required to train and run AI models are creating an unprecedented thirst for power. This demand for constant, reliable, and clean electricity is straining existing grids and challenging the capacity of intermittent renewables alone to meet the need. It is at this intersection of energy transition and digital infrastructure scaling that General Fusion and its backers see a monumental market opportunity.

As stated in Pender Growth Fund’s announcement, fusion is increasingly viewed as “essential infrastructure for energy security, and the broader energy transition.” The argument is that for the digital revolution to continue its trajectory, a new source of baseload power is required—one that is clean, safe, and scalable. Fusion energy, with its promise of zero carbon emissions, no long-lived radioactive waste, and an abundant fuel source, fits that profile perfectly. General Fusion is actively engaging with prospective customers to ensure its plant designs can be financed, built, and operated to meet these future industrial-scale power needs.

A Public Path Paved by a SPAC

For Pender Growth Fund, the nearly CAD$27.3 million uplift in its NAV represents a significant payoff on a long-term, illiquid investment. The fund’s strategy focuses on unique, small-cap, and special situations, and its early backing of General Fusion exemplifies the high-risk, high-reward nature of deep-tech venture investing. This transaction serves as a powerful case study in how patient capital can nurture disruptive technologies from the lab toward commercial reality.

The choice of a SPAC merger as the path to public markets is also telling. This route has seen a resurgence in 2025 for growth-stage companies in emerging sectors like clean energy. Unlike a traditional IPO, a SPAC merger allows a company like General Fusion to present forward-looking projections and negotiate valuation with more certainty. This is particularly valuable for a pre-revenue company whose value is tied to future technological milestones and market potential.

However, the path is not without its risks. The SPAC market has been characterized by high shareholder redemption rates, where investors opt to take their money back before a merger is finalized. The US$230 million held in SVAC's trust is therefore not guaranteed. This makes the US$105 million in committed PIPE financing—from investors who have specifically agreed to back the combined company—a critical anchor for the deal, signaling strong institutional confidence in General Fusion’s technology and business plan. The leadership team at SVAC, with a history of over 50 energy and decarbonization transactions, brings significant experience to the table, a factor that likely boosted investor confidence in what is an inherently speculative venture.

As General Fusion prepares for its public debut, it stands at a pivotal crossroads. Armed with fresh capital and a public currency, it must now execute on its ambitious technical roadmap under the intense scrutiny of the public markets. The journey from a private R&D firm to a publicly traded energy infrastructure player is just beginning, but its success or failure will have profound implications for the future of clean energy. The world will be watching to see if this fusion of deep science and public capital can finally unlock the promise of a star in a bottle.