The following is in response to questions received from several of our shareholders:
Current Assessment – It is not reasonable to expect any further net value or recovery of any kind from the corn oil patents. The Company has no revenue and the Company’s resources are limited to proceeds provided under related party debt arrangements on a match funding basis. Additional debt will cease to become available at some point. The Company also remains in continuing default of its secured debt agreements. Litigation financing may be available in conjunction with a contingency arrangement to pursue recovery for legal malpractice. While we can easily prove extensive damages in that matter, our former attorneys have availed themselves of every possible tactic at their disposal to delay arbitration and judgment, and they can be expected to continue to do so. There is a non-zero chance of a net recovery in the malpractice matter, and there is a chance that it may be sufficient to cover all of CleanTech Alpha's debts such that a distributable cash surplus may remain. If that occurs (emphasis on "if"), then we intend to proportionately distribute any net distributable cash surplus to all of our shareholders. We have no plan to operate CleanTech Alpha if or when that occurs. No assurances can be given that any recovery will occur.
Previously Announced Plans – We previously evaluated a number of alternatives to enable the Company’s shareholders to have increased access to liquidity. We attempted to complete a transaction involving shares of another liquid stock, however, after an extensive evaluation, we concluded that the associated tax and securities ramifications rendered that option cost-prohibitive and infeasible. The Company accordingly shifted its focus to a potential alternative transaction which would provide each of our shareholders with new shares in a newly-public entity in addition to their current holdings in the Company. If that transaction is successful, and no assurances can be given in that regard, then the newly-public entity would be free of the constraints described in the first paragraph above, and it would therefore have the ability to conduct new financing, reverse mergers, acquisitions, and other transactions.
Reality Check – Your collective interests are the sole reason that the Company continues to function. We intend to continue to use our best efforts to advance our shareholder interests for so long as we are able to continue making the attempt. To be clear, we only have two viable options to do so at this point: (1) by responsibly guiding CleanTech Alpha and the corn oil saga to completion, and, hopefully, (2) by completing the alternate transaction described above.
Technologies – The Company invested in research and development of corn oil extraction-centric and corn oil extraction-adjacent technologies over many years prior to 2017. Most of that work involved further processing of de-oiled distillers' grains. Some of it involved other forms of biomass. Regardless, all direct research and development efforts ceased due to the Company's inability to raise additional capital as a result of the corn oil infringement matter. In May 2018, the Company attempted to resolve that constraint by issuing a license for all of its technologies to a jointly-owned subsidiary of Attis Industries (20% Company, 80% Attis). Attis thereafter tried (and failed) to acquire additional rights to patents that were issued to and owned by an independent third party. The Company's former Chief Technology Officer, who ceased to be an employee and officer of the Company in 2017, subsequently negotiated to license and acquire the independent third party's patents in 2021. At no point did the Company own any rights to those patents.
We hope to have an additional update before the end of the year.
