DLA Piper has been called in to advise Trump Media & Technology Group (TMTG) on its $6bn merger with nuclear fusion firm TAE Technologies, repped by Baker Botts.
The all-stock transaction would “create one of the world’s first publicly traded fusion companies”, the two firms said in a statement on Thursday (18 December) announcing the deal.
The deal comes as surging demand for electricity to power the AI boom and electric vehicles reignites interest in cleaner nuclear power. Fusion power is a method of electric power generation from heat released by nuclear fusion reactions, which could release huge amounts of energy with little associated radioactivity.
The DLA Piper team acting for TMTG is led by corporate partner Viktor Sapezhnikov, who joined the firm last month from Wachtell Lipton Rosen & Katz as chair of public company M&A and activism, alongside M&A partner Brian Wohlberg and securities litigation partner Caryn Schechtman.
Meanwhile the Baker Botts team is led by Travis Wofford, chair of the corporate department in Houston and vice chair of the global M&A practice, alongside Texas corporate partners Sarah Dodson and Andrew Schulte.
The merger with TAE Technologies marks a shift into the energy sector for TMTG, the firm behind President Donald Trump’s Truth Social platform. TAE provides tech for energy storage and power delivery systems for electric vehicles and batteries and has raised more than $1.3bn of funding from investors including Google, Goldman Sachs and Sumitomo Corporation of Americas, among others.
Under the merger both firms will have an equal 50% share in ownership upon completion of the deal, expected in mid-2026 subject to shareholder and regulatory approvals. Next year, the combined company plans to site and begin construction on the world’s first utility-scale fusion power plant, subject to required approvals.
TMTG chairman and CEO, Devin Nunes, commented: “Fusion power will be the most dramatic energy breakthrough since the onset of commercial nuclear energy in the 1950s – an innovation that will lower energy prices, boost supply, ensure America’s AI supremacy, revive our manufacturing base and bolster national defence.”
He added TMTG “brings the capital and public market access to quickly move TAE’s proven technology to commercial viability”.
Barclays served as financial adviser to TAE, while for TMTG, Yorkville Securities is serving as lead financial and M&A adviser and Clear Street is serving as financial adviser.
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