New JSE-listed company under siege over fraud allegation

ASP Isotopes is being investigated for allegedly violating US Federal securities laws by making false and misleading statements about its uranium enrichment technology and business prospects. 

Grabar Law Office announced late on 18 March that it is investigating these claims on behalf of shareholders of ASP Isotopes. The investigation also extends to some of the company’s executives and directors. 

ASP Isotopes is listed on the Nasdaq and the JSE through its acquisition of Renergen in May 2025. Its primary operations are in Pretoria, where it runs isotope enrichment facilities alongside some in the United States and Europe. 

The company describes itself as specialising in enriching stable and radioactive isotopes for use in various industries. Its revenue is generated from selling these isotopes.

However, beginning in 2024, the company and its executives have made statements to investors regarding ASP Isotopes’ ability to enrich uranium using proprietary technology, Grabar said. 

This formed the basis of a lawsuit filed in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York. 

The lawsuit alleged that these statements were materially false and misleading because the company had never tested its uranium enrichment technologies on actual uranium at a laboratory or on a commercial scale. 

ASP Isotopes’ motion to dismiss the fraud class action complaint against it and some of its executives was denied by the court, with certain securities fraud claims allowed to proceed. 

Grabar said the complaint further alleged that defendants (ASP Isotopes and some of its executives) used the misrepresentations about uranium enrichment to raise capital from investors. 

Around $18.6 million was generated in proceeds, while the company’s stock price was inflated by the allegedly misleading statements about its uranium enrichment capabilities. 

The lawsuit and subsequent investigation follow a research report from Fuzzy Panda Research into ASP Isotopes in November 2024, alleging that the company’s technology was outdated and unlikely to be commercially viable.

It also alleged that ASP Isotopes had employed individuals to promote its stock, and that former Centrus Energy executives had deemed its technology virtually worthless.

ASP Isotopes CEO Paul Mann dismissed these allegations as an attack by a short seller. Short sellers profit from a company’s share price falling, known as “shorting” the stock.

“Fuzzy Panda is known for these types of short attacks, which are designed to allow short sellers to profit from a declining stock price,” Mann said.

“Tellingly, as the so-called “research report” states in its ‘disclaimer’, Fuzzy Panda and affiliates are short the Company’s stock and therefore stand to realise significant gains in the event the company’s stock price declines.”

“The Company’s management believes this short seller’s report contains incomplete and inaccurate information, distortions of facts, flawed analyses, and misleading conclusions.”

Grabar is now investigating these claims on behalf of shareholders and urged any investors who still hold shares in ASP Isotopes bought before 26 September 2024 to contact the law firm. 

ASP Isotopes’ Renergen bailout

ASP Isotopes has a deep history in South Africa, with its primary operations being located in Pretoria. However, the company only came into the public eye when it acquired JSE-listed Renergen in May 2025. 

Renergen was founded in 2014 and listed on the JSE in 2015 as a special-purpose acquisition company, with its principal asset being its ownership of Tetra4. 

Tetra4 holds petroleum production rights in South Africa, and its Virginia Gas Project in the Free State produces liquefied natural gas, with prospects to generate revenue from liquid helium. 

Renergen informed the market that its Phase 1 expansion would produce 350 kg of helium per day and 2,500 GJ of LNG per day.

Phase 1 was expected to be completed by March 2022 and to start commercial production by June 2022.

The phase 2 target was to produce 5,000 kg of helium per day and 24,400 GJ of LNG per day. It should have been producing gas by 2025.

Renergen set these targets and attracted tremendous investment interest. By the end of 2022, the share price had grown to over R40 per share.

The only issue was that none of this has been borne out in reality, with Renergen yet to complete phase 1 of its plant and having missed nearly all of the targets it has set itself. 

Renergen reported that it produced 5,088 tons of LNG for the trailing 12 months ending February 2025.

This is far off from its Phase 1 annual target of 18,948 tons, which it said it would reach by 2022. It is even further away from the 171,237 tons annual LNG target it set for phase 2 in 2025.

Most of Renergen’s value sits in its promise to produce large quantities of helium. However, none of its financial results has shown any sales of helium prior to the company’s delisting from the JSE.

Renergen also informed investors that it would generate between R5.7 billion and R6.2 billion in EBITDA by 2027.

The company has failed to reach these ambitious targets. In its last full financial results before delisting from the JSE, Renergen reported an EBITDA figure of -R165 million.

In May 2025, Renergen announced that it would sell 100% of its shares to ASP Isotopes, with all shareholders receiving 0.09196 ASP shares for every 1 Renergen share.

Mann said at the time that Renergen’s only alternative to accepting the deal would be to enter business rescue. He also said that under ASP Isotopes, Renergen will reach its full potential by 2026 and be profitable.