Here to make money and always win
Register for free to join our community of investors and share your ideas. You will also get access to streaming quotes, interactive charts, trades, portfolio, live options flow and more tools.
Register for free to join our community of investors and share your ideas. You will also get access to streaming quotes, interactive charts, trades, portfolio, live options flow and more tools.
I was just providing support for the fact they actually referenced anerobic digestion. It is old and outdated but LRS did do a PR in 2017 that referenced that.
I just scoured their site. In an old press release they actually do refer to anerobic digestion. This was from June 2017.
The “cradle-to-cradle” concept describes efforts that divert waste from disposal so that landfill space and natural resources can be preserved. Creating less waste in the first place is now a priority for many businesses and industries. Companies are designing products and packaging with this in mind, substituting materials, reconsidering existing designs and recycling more. Progressive waste disposal technologies like anaerobic digestion are also being utilized. Waste management workers who are qualified in these areas will be increasingly in demand.
T
They haven't updated anything. My guess is updating the website or their corporate records are not priorities.
T
I have been by the Morton Grove office. It is vacant. There name is off of the door.
Since Barrington is a lawyers office with a phone they actually didn't move there just a mail drop
I think they have gone virtual. It looks like only two Kwaks and Siegel left.
you can do that for less tan $100 per year.
I just checked Nevada status since this is the State of Incorporation. They have been moved from default to revoked status
This is not as permanent as it seems. They can reinstatement the company by paying some more fees. Now about $30k to fix.
That needs to get this fixed before they can sign any more deals or give a corporate good stanidng and organization rep.
They also have not acquired the Illinois name back from the lawyer.
Would be nice if they could bring this all up date, including SEC filings
I just checked Nevada status since this is the State of Incorporation. They have been moved from default to revoked status
This is not as permanent as it seems. They can reinstatement the company by paying some more fees. Now about $30k to fix.
That needs to get this fixed before they can sign any more deals or give a corporate good stanidng and organization rep.
They also have not acquired the Illinois name back from the lawyer.
Would be nice if they could bring this all up date, including SEC filings
I am confident that Ricketts knows very little about the advertising done on the Cubs broadcasts. The companies advertising are buying time from the broadcast network not the Cubs. He likely pays attention to sponsor advertising like Anheiser Busch.
The Cubs started a recycling program in 2017 (expanded in 2019). Republic Waste does their waste hauling and recycling. They have been handling Wrigley Field waste hauling for over 20 years
Everyone calm down here.
Young Kwak was never really running ECOS. When old man Kwak lent ECOS $500k to finance the digester purchase he took control of the purse strings from Siegel.
He has been running the show since then and young Kwak has been following Daddy's direction
We are not the only ones stuck. Fife is still sitting on a boat load of ECOs convertible notes which can't be converted/
We just need to wait and try and find old man Kwak to get answers
Actually it is Seigel dressed in drag singing. He has gone back to the C Line to dance and perform.
You can. I have sent notes to the SEC on other tickers that were delinquent but still promoting. In almost all cases the SEC staff did nothing.
I agree at this point holding is a low risk enterprise. At no bid with no info flowing from the company Waiting is all one can do despite Ihochu's daily messages to run away
Let's be clear ECOS has violated a few SEC rules over the years (mostly disclosure related).
The SEC is not equipped to chase down penny companies (their principal focus is on larger entities) and FINRA hasn't done much to regulate or oversee the penny market.
If you have some cash and a product/service and can pay your bills you could go on a very long time before any regulator catches up.
You are in pennyland. The number of delinquent tickers are overwhelming.
The SEC only spends its time on delinquent tickers that are trying to do something (like sell shares, take corporate action while being delinquent. potentially violating the anti-fraud provisions).
ECOS could go years if they want without reporting. The SEC will likely never delist them. They just wait for penny tickers to die.
GS Pipe is a different entity from GS the Bank. They have not used GS Pipe as a vehicle to take anything public. They have only used it to make investments in early stage and growth companies.
It is my opinion that GS would never use ECOS as an IPO vehicle. There are loots of safer ways for LRS to go public than through this shell. If you knew LRS lawyers you would know they are likely going to use LRES to go public. A lot less hair.
Realize the GS investor is not the I-Bank, but rather the private investment entity which is owned by GS. It is more of a PE fund run by GS.
The private investment arm buys into smaller growth stage companies like LRS. Their typical investment is $5-20m and in companies that have positive EBITDA of at least $5m. . They don't normally monetize these through an IPO, but have rather taken some smaller companies private.
I really don't see them doing an IPO through ECOS. OIt is easier for them to just float LRS on its own through an IPO. JMO
I think it tells you three things
1) WM with their Gary facility and these California sites is going big into food waste to fertilizer and fuel through anerobic digestion. Rember they are already in Western New York and Brooklyn with anerobic digesters
2) The company which sold to WM (in which WM and some good private equity guys (like Kleiner Perkins)) are still shareholders itself has a large presence in this field on the East Coast and In Canada. They look like a ready partner to acquire more sites from Harvest Power.
3) It means food to usable products is catching on. Having Kleiner in your investor base is a good entre to other sources of capital to grow your business. Their advisory Board includes Colin Powell and Al Gore as well as some other big hitters on the West Coast. This bodes well for continued investment in this business segment.Gore has been preaching from this pulpit ever since he was VP.
It would be nice if ECOS would have pursued an investor like Kleiner rathewr than selling convertible notes. Might not be too later for them to explore this avenue.
T
When my Uncle dies years back we had the privilege of having the leaders of the Chicago mob pay respects ( Ia m sure members of the Chicago law enforcement community were not far away). A smaller subset came when one of my cousins passed a few years ago. As they often say we are all family.
I am thinking maybe we want them to visit Kwak and Seigel.
I have a branch of my family that is very Italian and very involved in organizing for the Teamsters. They have nice people with gravely voices that help them eliminate problems
T
Since Seigel and Kwak have voting control over ECOS (through preferred) he will have to do something (like offer them some cash).
I can offer Handley some phone numbers to some nice Italian gents who could certainly help Seigel and Kwak do the right thing.
Kwak and Seigel are tied at the hip so I am not sure how much Kwak really controls Seigel. They came into the ticker together when the prior promoter of Tri Truong went back to Vietnam to start another business.
Of course if it sells MS gets nothing. The house and land is owned by FMB LP out of Grayslake. That entity is owned by Dulce Brandt, not MS. Maybe justice is he becomes homeless when the land sells. Can't think of a better outcome for him.
You will note the driveway will look familiar from the Dylan Seigel exercise video
By the way you want to visit soon. They listed the property for sale. The value is in the 2.75 acres not the house.
MS might need to relocate again soon.
MS lives on Ridge Road north of 22 and south of elm.
81 Ridge Road, Lake Forest Phone number 312 242 1619
He is either renting the house or belongs to his wife's family. He does not show up as an owner of the property on the Lake County records.
t
I got Handley's Marine Corp experience form the LRS website (see excerpt from Handley's bio below)
Handley held leadership positions at Heller Financial, Price Waterhouse and the United States Marine Corps.
It wouldn't surprise me that Siegel would puff up his experience. His Marine experience might have come from playing soldier in his backyard as a kid.
the relationship with LRS came from Handley and Seigel. They are both ex-Marines. Thaw was the door opener. It was at a time that Seigel ran LRS.
The financing that built the first digester came from Kwak. He lent them $500k. That was ECOS financing plan.
You can't borrow on ECOS balance sheet
I don't think they actually made a profit on the sale of the digester.
The rest of the deal economics are fairly straightforward (i) ECOS gets a share of the tipping fees avoided by LRS not having to send waste to a landfill and (ii) as share on net profits realized from the sale of fertilizer. Now Tereplenish and Allsource are taking a slice of that business, so my guess is that is not that big.
I never intimated Handley was shady. The world is littered with lots of deals where a distributor defaults and somebody steps in (often the principal). Back in the old days Montgomery Wards and Sears were famous for this. He who has the larger pocketbook can always beat the smaller guy into submission.
Handley could simply create an event of default by ordering 8 digesters at once. Under the agreement, ECOS would need to deliver and finance the digesters on their balance sheet (they only get paid after acceptance) It would be next to impossible for ECOS to come up with the capital. LRS waits for ECOS not to deliver on time and eureka you get an event of default. Not shady just executing on the existing agreements.
By thew way this happens everyday in the business world. Don't need to go to B school to learn this.
I have been in this for a long time. I have seen ECOS make positive statements about other business relationships only to watch them evaporate. I don't trust Kwak and Seigel, especially Seigel.
I think Handley has done a good job putting together LRS.
There is just no evidence that anything other than a single digester exists and that ECOS and LRS have actually expanded their relationship. Just a lot of assumptions.
Yes they did. They went with Seigel and the elder Kwak to see the factory and a couple of sites that were operating. That told LRS it worked when built by the Koreans. It didn't tell them much about how ECOS would perform.
Having been involved in the construction of many plants. All plants present their own challenges and shakedown issues even when you follow the cookbook of another successful contractor/company. I would think by now the plant has been accepted and paid for
If Handley is as smart as many people think the play for him may be to wait for ECOS to default on some of their obligations under the supply or JV agrement and then go direct to the Korean manufacturer of the digester and do an LSTK contract for more digesters. I can think of myriad of ways Handley could engineer that result.
I think he did.
I think the warrants were a vehicle to acquire shares on the cheap if ECOS took off. Since ECOS trades below the exercise price he is still sitting on them.
The JV gives a hedge to control the technology. All of the digester profits go in there as well as the fertilizer sales. Depending on his ownership he gets back cash flow from the operation of the digester and future sales of digesters.
Remember also the infamous territorial rights he got to control sales of digesters to others in his territory
All of these effectively are akin to call rights or hedges which are tilted in his favor. He hasn't put out anything to get them so kudos to Handley and his lawyers for getting them. In this way he is acting like a private equity investor without having to put up any money. Its a good deal for LRS.
These all are the price of admission for ECOS to do business with LRS.
Here is a way to think about it.
Uber freight is also likely a more interesting opportunity for Marks(brings financial security and a stable business). It has a big checkbook backing it and a disruptive approach to independent freight movement. It assures Marks a paycheck
My guess is what is happening now is Tereplenish is receiving the output from Allsource and LRS is running that part of the show. The profits going to ECOS JV are now likely reduced since Tereplenish is the retail arm and Allsource the distribution arm. Remeber ECOS JV was being paid to market and distribute the product. Others now have assumed those roles.They are both taking a cut of what were supposed to be profits of the JV.
If it is any solace I know that Siegel is still alive and living in Lake Forest (or at least his car was still parked there).
We are now left with a company of the two Kwaks and Seigel. Back to 2016 staffing.
I assume LRS is now controlling the relationship between Tereplenish and Allsource and ECOS is now on the sidelines.
I still think Handley would be a complete idiot to ever merge with the ECOS shell. There are much better approaches that don't involve taking on ECOS potential liabilities.
As time goes on we as shareholders have no idea
- whether the Korean distribution agreement with ECOS is still in effect.
- whether the ECOS JV with LRS has been amended (I would guess it needed to be to allow Terpelenish into the sales activities).
- whether the digester has ever been accepted (you can assume as such since LRS is using it).
It does and it will never pass the Senate. Think of the sponsor and the President's love for her. Likely to die again this session and come back after the 2020 elections.
J Heard
Ecology Solutions was an Illinois LLC formed by LRS and is owned by them.
Used to be called LRS of Western Illinois and Western Illinois Landfill.
It is their acquisition entity to by the landfill It is owned by LRS Holdings which is the parent of Lakeshore.
For Handley the math is simple.
Pay $97 for a site.
Invest a few million in equipment to open a new landfill.
Cost savings to LRS from not paying tipping fees.
In addition, avoids WM holding him up in the future by refusing his waste at one of the WM landfills. After Advance deal, WM has most of the Northern Illinois landfills.
This deal makes perfect economic sense for LRS with or without a digester,
They can't use the additional landfill space at Atkinson until they put in berms and methane equipment. The old landfill at the site was at capacity.
LRS opening a landfill makes them less reliant on their competitors who have landfills. They are paying likes of WM tipping fees to deposit their non-recyclable waste. This keeps the money in the LRS house.
They need to prepare it to be an additional landfill site. The old site is near capacity. You need to build berms around the site and then install methane capture equipment.
I think you are overstating the mail drop
Kwak runs his import company the same way. Virtual office and internet phone. I don't view that as evidence of a scam. Just a business that is trying to control costs and doesn't need a real estate footprint to do that.
Kart
I never said I didn't walk in.
There were no ECOS people in the office There were two lawyers Brie Crawford who does Intellectual Property Law and Sam Castree who does Entertainment Law (it is their office). They provide ECOS and office address and Brie Crawford did some IP work for them in the past.
There was absolutely nothing that said LRS (no sign, no nothing). It is merely a mail drop.
Good way to keep costs down.
Maybe because I have taken field trips to the office, the digester, etc.
The office building they are in is not a secure site. Anyone can walk in and observe for themselves.