Discontinued operations - Mexico project development

3 Months Ended

Mar. 31, 2025

Discontinued operations - Mexico project development

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.

In November 2015, the State of Baja California (the “State”) officially commenced the public tender for the Project, and in June 2016 a consortium comprised of NSC and two other parties was selected by the State as the winner of the tender process for the Project. NSC subsequently formed AdR to pursue the completion of the Project.

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.

On June 29, 2020, AdR received a letter (the “Letter”) from CEA and CESPT terminating the APP Contract. The Letter requested that AdR provide an inventory of the assets that comprised 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. On August 28, 2020, AdR submitted their list of non-recoverable expenses, including those of NSC, to CEA and CESPT which amounted to 51,144,525 United States dollars and an additional 137,333,114 Mexican pesos.

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”). In April 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.

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.

In May 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.

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

	March 31,		December 31,
	2025		2024
Cash	$	29,107	$	127,859
Prepaid expenses and other current assets		140,600		144,626
Total assets of discontinued operations	$	169,707	$	272,485
Total liabilities of discontinued operations	$	235,057	$	509,745

	Three Months Ended March 31,
	2025		2024
Revenue	$	—	$	—
Loss from discontinued operations	$	(133,081)	$	(467,066)
Gain on sale of land and project documentation	$	—	$	—
Depreciation expense	$	—	$	—