Discontinued operations

6 Months Ended

Jun. 30, 2024

Discontinued operations

Discontinued operations - Mexico project development

5. Discontinued operations - Mexico project development

In 2010, the Company began the pursuit, through its Netherlands subsidiary, CW-Cooperatief, and its Mexico subsidiary, NSC, of a project (the “Project”) that encompassed the construction, operation and minority ownership of a 100 million gallons per day seawater reverse osmosis desalination plant to be located in northern Baja California, Mexico and accompanying pipelines to deliver water to the Mexican potable water system.

Through a series of transactions that began in 2012, NSC purchased 20.1 hectares of land for approximately $21.1 million on which the proposed Project’s plant was to be constructed.

Following an assessment by the State of Baja, California (the “State”) of the need for such a desalination plant and the passage of enabling legislation in November 2015, the State officially commenced the required public tender for the Project. A consortium (the “Consortium”) comprised of NSC, Suez Medio Ambiente México, S.A. de C.V. (“Suez MA”), a subsidiary of SUEZ International, S.A.S., and NuWater S.A.P.I. de C.V. (“NuWater”) submitted its tender for the Project in April 2016 and in June 2016, the State designated the Consortium as the winner of the tender process for the Project.

In August 2016, NSC and NuWater incorporated a new company under the name AdR to pursue completion of the Project and executed a shareholders agreement for AdR agreeing among other things that (i) AdR would purchase the land and

other Project assets from NSC on the date that the Project begins commercial operation and (ii) AdR would enter into a Management and Technical Services Agreement with NSC effective on the first day that the Project begins commercial operation. NSC initially owned 99.6% of the equity of AdR. In February 2018, CW-Holdings acquired the remaining 0.4% ownership in AdR from NuWater.

On August 22, 2016, the Public Private Partnership Agreement for the Project (the “APP Contract”) was executed between AdR, the State Water Commission of Baja, California (“CEA”), and the Government of Baja California, as represented by the Secretary of Planning and Finance and the Public Utilities Commission of Tijuana (“CESPT”). The APP Contract required AdR to design, construct, finance and operate a seawater reverse osmosis desalination plant (and accompanying aqueduct) with a capacity of up to 100 million gallons per day in two phases: the first with a capacity of 50 million gallons per day and an aqueduct to the Mexican public water system in Tijuana, Baja California and the second phase with a capacity of 50 million gallons per day. The first phase was to be operational within 36 months of commencing construction and the second phase was to be operational by January 2025. The APP Contract further required AdR to operate and maintain the plant and aqueduct for a period of 37 years starting from the commencement of operation of the first phase. At the end of the operating period, the plant and aqueduct would have been transferred to CEA. The APP Contract was subsequently amended by the parties in June 2018 to increase the scope of Phase 1 and to allow for changes in the water tariff due to the changes in the exchange rate for the peso, interest rates and construction costs that had and would occur from the date the APP Contract was signed to the date construction commenced.

On June 29, 2020, AdR received a letter (the “Letter”) from the Director General of CEA and the Director General of CESPT terminating the APP Contract. The Letter requested that AdR provide an inventory of the assets that currently comprise the “Project Works” (as defined in the APP Contract) for the purpose of acknowledging and paying the non-recoverable expenses made by AdR in connection with the Project, with such reimbursement to be calculated in accordance with the terms of the APP Contract. The applicable law required that this list of non-recoverable expenses made by AdR in connection with the Project be submitted to CEA and CESPT within 20 business days from the date of receipt of the Letter. AdR initiated an amparo claim before a federal district court in Tijuana, Baja California, to challenge the provision of the applicable law requiring submittal of the list of non-recoverable expenses within the 20 business days term, as AdR considered such term to be unreasonably short due to the magnitude of the Project and the scope of supporting documentation required to be provided with respect to the non-recoverable expenses. AdR obtained an initial provisional suspension of the lapsing of such 20-day term from the court, and on August 10, 2020 the court made such suspension definitive until the completion of the amparo trial. As such, the 20-day term for filing the list of non-recoverable expenses was suspended. Therefore, on August 28, 2020, AdR submitted their list of non-recoverable expenses, including those of NSC, to CEA and CESPT which was comprised of 51,144,525 United States dollars and an additional 137,333,114 Mexican pesos. In February 2021, AdR withdrew this amparo claim, and such withdrawal was accepted by the federal district court in Tijuana. To date, AdR has not received a formal response from CEA or CESPT to its submission of non-recoverable expenses.

The Company believed CW-Cooperatief, as a Netherlands company, had certain rights relating to its investments in NSC and AdR under the Agreement on Promotion, Encouragement and Reciprocal Protection of Investments between the Kingdom of the Netherlands and the United Mexican States entered into force as of October 1, 1999 (the “Treaty”). On April 16, 2021, CW-Cooperatief submitted a letter to the President of Mexico and other Mexican federal government officials alleging that the State’s termination of the APP Contract constituted a breach by Mexico of its international obligations under the Treaty, entitling CW-Cooperatief to full reparation, including monetary damages. This letter invited Mexico to seek a resolution of this investment dispute through consultation and negotiation, but stated that if the dispute cannot be resolved in this manner, CW-Cooperatief would refer the dispute to the International Centre for the Settlement of International Disputes for arbitration, as provided for in the Treaty. On June 29, 2021, the Mexican Ministry of Economy responded to CW-Cooperatief’s letter and proposed to hold a consultation meeting. Two such meetings were held on July 9, 2021 and August 2, 2021 on a confidential basis, without a resolution of the Company’s investment dispute.

​In February 2022, CW-Cooperatief, filed a Request for Arbitration with the International Centre for Settlement of International Disputes (“ICSID”) requesting that the United Mexican States pay CW-Cooperatief damages in excess of US$51 million plus MXN$137 million (with the exact amount to be quantified in the proceedings), plus fees, costs and pre- and post-award interest.

On May 29, 2024, the Company, through CW-Cooperatief; NSC, and AdR entered into a settlement agreement (the “Settlement Agreement”) with the State and Banco Nacional de Obras y Servicios Públicos, S.N.C., as trustee under the trust agreement for the trust named Fondo Nacional de Infraestructura (the “Trust”). Under the Settlement Agreement, CW-Cooperatief requested that ICSID discontinue the arbitration and on May 31, 2024, ICSID issued an order discontinuing the arbitration. Pursuant to the Settlement Agreement, the Trust purchased the 20.1 hectares of land on which the Project’s plant was to be constructed, including related rights of way (the “Land”), on an “as-is” basis, from NSC for MXN$596,144,000. The sale of the Land to the Trust was closed on June 14, 2024 at which time the MXN$596,144,000 was paid to the Company and converted at the prevailing exchange rate on that date into US$31,959,685.

In connection with the Settlement Agreement on June 14, 2024, the State also paid NSC MXN$20,000,000 to purchase certain documentation owned by NSC relating to the Project.

As a result of the Settlement Agreement: (i) the parties have been released from all obligations owed to each other in connection with the APP Contract and the arbitration; and (ii) no party to the Settlement Agreement may institute any legal proceedings against another party thereto with respect to the matters which have been addressed by the Settlement Agreement.

The Settlement Agreement and any matter arising out of or in connection with it are governed by the federal laws of Mexico.

Summarized financial information for the discontinued Mexico project development operation is as follows:

		June 30,		December 31,
		2024		2023
Cash	$	1,355,104	$	91,283
Prepaid expenses and other current assets		148,369		120,234
Land		—		21,126,898
Other assets		—		2,390
Total assets of discontinued operations	$	1,503,473	$	21,340,805
Total liabilities of discontinued operations	$	393,237	$	364,665

	Three Months Ended June 30,				Six Months Ended June 30,
	2024		2023		2024		2023
Revenue	$	—	$	—	$	—	$	—
Loss from discontinued operations	$	(526,920)	$	(207,701)	$	(993,986)	$	(466,864)
Gain on sale of land and project documentation	$	12,134,766	$	—	$	12,134,766	$	—
Depreciation expense	$	—	$	—	$	—	$	—