I believe it's held by an individual who has been accumulating QS shares.
More "INSIDER BUYING". Below is a recap of all the RECENT "INSIDER BUYING" by QS directors.
(1) On 8/5/2016 Don Dickson invests $70,000 in a Private Placement offering of convertible notes and warrants.
(2) On 10/13/2016 Don Dickson converts his note into common stock.
(3) On 4/17/2017 Dr. Eric Bunting invests $50,000 in a Private Placement offering of convertible notes and warrants.
(4) On 5/15/17 Richard Munn invests $10,000 in a Private Placement offering of convertible notes and warrants. He immediately converts the notes to common stock.
(5) On 5/15/2017 Richard Munn buys 42,000 shares of common stock in the open market at $0.24 per share.
(6) On 5/31/2017 Thomas Bundros invests $100,000 in a private Placement of convertible notes and warrants. He immediately converts the notes to common stock.
(7) On 7/19/2017 Dr. Eric Bunting invests an additional $40,000 to convert his warrants and stock options into common stock well before their expiration dates.
(8) On 7/30/2017 Don Dickson invests an additional $38,500 to convert warrants into common stock.
(9) On 8/2/2017 Gary Buchler invests $50,000 to buy common stock at market prices and convert all of his vested stock options.
(10) On 10/2/2017 Dr. Eric Bunting invests an additional $33,875 to buy 125,000 shares of common stock in the open market at $.271 per share. He also converts 178,002 of his newly vested stock options into common stock at an out of pocket cost of $12,460. This brings his total common stock holdings to 6,735,430 shares worth approx. $1.8 million at today's price.
(11) On 2/6/2018 Dr. Eric Bunting converts 179,710 of his newly vested stock options into common stock, well before their expiration date, at an out of pocket cost of $12,580.
(12) On 3/30/2018 Dr. Eric Bunting invests another $40,000 in a private Placement of convertible notes and warrants. He immediately converts the notes to common stock.
(13) On 3/30/2018 Dr. Eric Bunting invests an additional $18,000 to convert warrants into common stock, well before their expiration date.
All of the individuals named above are part of QSEP's Board of Directors. All of them are investing their own money in QSEP. While NDA's may prevent them from talking about the specifics of any particular corporate relationships, this is a powerful alternative way to express just how confident they are in QSEP's immediate future.
I've emphasized the word immediate because I think the motivation for early conversion of 10 year stock options is based on a strong belief that the stock will be going substantially higher in the near term. This early conversion will reduce the future tax burden substantially if that were to occur (long term capital gain instead of ordinary income).
The "bargain element" of a stock option is taxed as ordinary income while the remaining gain is taxed at the lower capital gains rate. Exercise of a stock option while the underlying security price is low insures that the "bargain element" will also be low allowing for the best tax outcome (the bargain element is the difference between the price at the time of exercise and the grant price). For the owner of a QSEP stock option it requires a very powerful incentive to give up a 10 year "free look". A savvy investor would hold onto a stock option as long as possible, exercising and putting up money only at a time when the outlook was so positive that it is likely to move the stock substantially higher. Anybody exercising their stock options today must feel now is that time.
