Business
Aqua Metals Restructures USDA Backed Loan Agreement with Veritex Bank
Receives Additional $3.5M Cash From Escrow, Anticipates Being Debt Free In 2020 MCCARRAN, Nev., March 30, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Aqua Metals, Inc. (NASDAQ:
About this update from Aqua Metals, Inc.
[{"type":"text","content":"Receives Additional $3.5M Cash From Escrow, Anticipates Being Debt Free In 2020\nMCCARRAN, Nev., March 30, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Aqua Metals, Inc. (NASDAQ: AQMS) (“Aqua Metals” or the “Company”), which is reinventing lead recycling with its AquaRefining™ technology, today announced that it has executed an Agreement with Veritex Bank (which acquired Green Bank in January 2019) to restructure the Company’s existing ~$9M loan Agreement.\n The primary focus for the restructuring was to remove various restrictive covenants on the Company that dictate how fire related insurance collection proceeds are to be spent. In addition, restructuring the Agreement immediately releases $3.5M of insurance proceeds currently in escrow and defines how portions of the anticipated future insurance recovery proceeds will be split between Veritex Bank and the Company. The loan is currently secured by real property, personal property and a certificate of deposit. Pursuant to the Agreement, the Company will fully retire the ~$9M loan upon receiving the first $25M of the potential $50M in insurance proceeds. Although there can be no assurances, the company anticipates being debt free in 2020 based on current information. Agreed upon portions of all future insurance proceeds will be applied to the outstanding loan balance as follows: Insurance LayerPotentialProceeds Available in LayerAqua Cash Collection PotentialPotential Application to Veritex LoanCollected From Insurers to DateReleased to Aqua Cash to DateLayer 1$5.0M$4.5M$0.5M$5.0M (complete)$4.5MLayer 2$7.5M$4.125M$3.375M$5.0M ($2.5M Pending)$2.75MLayer 3$12.5M$7.5M$5.0MClaim Submitted-- Layer 4$25M$25MN/AClaim Submitted-- Totals$50.0M$41.125M$8.875M (total)) $2.75M (to date)$10.0M$7.25M (to date) “This restructured loan with Veritex supports our plan to strengthen the balance sheet and our cash position throughout 2020 with the opportunity to retire all material debt in support of our accelerated journey towards a capital light technology licensing model,” said Steve Cotton, President and CEO. “I’d like to thank the team at Veritex with the support of the USDA for their ongoing support as we continue our business transformation.” About Aqua Metals Aqua Metals, Inc. (NASDAQ: AQMS) is reinventing lead recycling with its patented AquaRefining™ technology. Unlike smelting, AquaRefining is a room tempe...