Our Story
metronuclear LLC is a deep value social impact principal investment partnership that awaits then exploits market dislocations, uses algorithms to make investment decisions, and engages management teams to reduce price-value gaps and to improve social impact and diversity, equity, and inclusion. Originally established to supply physical uranium concentrates to US nuclear plants receiving state-level subsidies, metronuclear invests in systemically important public companies that are overlooked and undervalued.
Our Journey
Our founders launched metronuclear after New York and Illinois approved annual ratepayer subsidies for nuclear power plants. One of our co-founders pioneered uranium trading at two global investment banks; the other co-founder has deep experience in community development and is a member of New York City’s Community Board 9 in Harlem. We have engaged practically every corporate owner of a nuclear power plant fleet in America. In each case, metronuclear was singularly responsible for the owner’s nuclear fuel team meeting its diversity team for the first time. While waiting for these corporate owners to modernize their supplier diversity, equity, and inclusion practices, we diversified into deep value investments, and specifically European bank shares (and/or proxies thereof) that trade at historically large discounts to their tangible net asset value.
Our Investments
metronuclear’s main investment is in Commerzbank Aktiengesellschaft, Germany’s second-largest private bank with approximately 500 billion euros in total assets. Commerzbank is the market leader in German SME lending, a pioneer in the field of sustainable finance, and the parent of leading digital bank-broker comdirect. Its mBank subsidiary is Poland’s fourth-largest bank with approximately 200 billion zlotys in total assets. Its CommerzVentures venture capital platform has invested successfully at an early stage in fintech unicorns such as Marqeta, eToro, Mambu, and Bought By Many. We believe Commerzbank should feature CommerzVentures’ success more prominently in its transformation narrative, insofar as it represents a clear advantage over local German and even European bank peers.
We have initiated a constructive dialogue with Commerzbank and are fully supportive of its new management team and corporate strategy. metronuclear has introduced the #BetOnBettina hashtag to #Commerzbank Twitter in support of Commerzbank’s Chief Financial Officer. Building on its accelerated transformation progress under the stewardship of its results-oriented Chief Executive Officer, Commerzbank recently announced a new Capital Return Policy and the potential to return up to five billion euros of capital to shareholders by 2024. We believe Commerzbank should focus on direct buybacks from the German Federal Government, which holds a minority stake in the bank.
Our Team
Roy Adams
- Co-Founder & Chief Investment Officer of metronuclear
- Originates, executes, and manages metronuclear’s deep value investments
- Serves as metronuclear’s geopolitical, macroeconomic, equity, and diversity research analyst
- Challenges management teams of target companies to measurably improve diversity, equity, inclusion, and social impact
- Scaled metronuclear investment in Commerzbank and communicates actively to ensure management accountability
- Developed metronuclear deep value algorithm and uranium term and options pricing models
- Pioneered uranium trading at Deutsche Bank and Lehman Brothers in UK and US with customers spanning 5 continents
- Financial Times: Adams left Deutsche Bank to work with two non-profits and later to invest privately in uranium-linked and European bank shares
- Reuters: Deutsche Bank’s global uranium trading business was a long-term supplier of uranium to utilities, profitable each year of its existence and later sold to Australian bank Macquarie
- Originated and executed first-ever long-term physical uranium supply contract between a bank and a nuclear utility
- Traded first-ever financially-settled uranium swap with institutional investors
- Arranged first-ever financially-settled uranium swap with a nuclear utility, covering a quarter of its annual fuel requirements
- Graduate of NYC public schools, Mathematics and Science for Minority Students Program at Phillips Academy Andover, Yale College, and Tuck School of Business (Edward Tuck Scholar)
Padmore John
- Co-Founder & Chief Community Officer of metronuclear
- Appointed by Manhattan Borough President as NYC Community Board member and voted Chair within 3 years
- Works with various NYC agencies to deploy $25 million budget
- Works closely with city, state and federal elected representatives on issues addressing all aspects of community life, from transportation and health to economic development and education
- Chairs collaboration that implements $90 million community benefit agreement
- Graduate of NYC public schools, Johns Hopkins University, New School in Health Service Management & Policy