v3.26.1
Discontinued operations - Mexico project development
3 Months Ended
Mar. 31, 2026
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 a 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. Shortly thereafter, NSC formed its wholly owned subsidiary, AdR, to pursue the completion of the Project.

Following a public tender process for the Project in which NSC and its consortium were declared the winners, in August, 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 APP Contract further provided that AdR would operate and maintain the plant and aqueduct for a period of 37 years starting from the commencement of operation of the first phase.

In June 2020, AdR received a letter from CEA and CESPT terminating the APP Contract.

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 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, 

2026

2025

Cash

  ​ ​

$

19,872

  ​ ​

$

13,776

Prepaid expenses and other current assets

112,082

110,854

Total assets of discontinued operations

$

131,954

$

124,630

 

  ​

 

  ​

Total liabilities of discontinued operations

$

271,067

$

271,159

Three Months Ended March 31, 

  ​ ​

  ​ ​

2026

  ​ ​

2025

Loss from discontinued operations

$

(43,042)

$

(133,081)