History
A Nevada mineral shell turned quantum dot developer funded itself through debt, conversions and share issuance, and by early 2021 faced a possible Pasaca Capital takeover of 51%.
2008-2010: From mineral claims to quantum dots
Hague Corp. began as a Nevada mineral exploration company. In October 2008 it signed a letter of intent to buy the assets of Solterra Renewable Technologies, a quantum dot solar cell developer (quantum dots are tiny particles with useful light and electronic properties). The deal closed on November 4, 2008, making Solterra a wholly-owned subsidiary. Greg Chapman cancelled 40,000,000 of his shares, 41,250,000 new shares went to Solterra's former holders, and Stephen Squires took control of about 51.2% of 69,375,000 shares and replaced Chapman as CEO. Hague said it would relinquish or sell its mineral claims and focus on Solterra, and warned that it had no history of profitable operations.
The deal was funded by $1,500,000 raised from three lenders through 8% debentures due November 2011, convertible at $.2667 per share. By June 2009 the terms were under strain. The holders agreed to a 120-day standstill, during which they would not enforce their rights, on condition that Solterra raise at least $2,000,000. A later amendment ended the standstill on December 1, 2009, and it expired without extension. The filings do not say whether the money was raised. A director, Isaac Horton, resigned in November 2009.
2011-2013: A quiet stretch and a licence problem
The record for these years is thin. In September 2011 the company signed an alliance with Nanoaxis LLC to make custom quantum dots for biological uses, but no funding had been secured and no amounts were stated. Shares on issue grew from 113,834,712 at the end of 2011 to 198,875,204 at the end of 2013. In September 2013 the company and Solterra signed amended licence agreements with William Marsh Rice University to cure defaults and reset milestones and minimum payments. The licences were its core technology.
2014-2016: Clearing debt, restating results
In 2014 the company turned old debt into shares. On June 30, 2014, $1,000,000 of secured debentures converted into 16,666,667 shares and $200,000 of unsecured loans into 3,666,667 shares, at $.06 per share. Officers, directors and a consultant swapped about $525,000 of unpaid bills for 6,575,000 shares. In October and November 2014 a further $850,000 of debt was converted, for about 10.7 million shares plus warrants. The company also announced a 20-gram quantum dot shipment from a new automated production system, and a Virginia Tech anti-counterfeiting technology.
In December 2015 the Audit Committee found that results for the quarters to December 2014 and March 2015 could not be relied on because of accounting errors, mainly in debt and equity financing. The nine-month loss to March 31, 2015 was restated to $980,183 from $2,045,539. Management said it had hired a full-time CFO/controller, new auditors and an independent audit committee.
From March 2016 the company ran a private placement of convertible notes, convertible at $0.12 per share with warrants at $0.15. It had raised $1,965,000 by November 7, 2016, against a limit of up to $3,000,000, at 8% interest. In October 2016 the two Carson funds extended their $500,000 of debentures to January 2018 and paid $375,000 to exercise warrants, receiving about 9.4 million shares. In November 2016 a $9.75 million share purchase agreement with Lincoln Park Capital Fund was signed, with nothing drawn at the time.
2017-2021: More financing, new assets, a possible change of control
In March 2017 the company issued notes to SBI and L2 Capital, receiving $300,000 in the first two tranches. It also signed an equity line of up to $5,000,000, and sought shareholder approval to lift authorised shares to 750,000,000. Shares on issue rose from 337,105,438 at the end of 2016 to 639,446,926 at the end of 2019. The filings do not explain each step of that rise. In August 2019 it bought certain intangible assets of Capstan Platform, Inc., a blockchain developer, at an undisclosed price, and Capstan's co-founder Jay Williams became chief technology officer.
On January 26, 2021 the company signed a deal with Pasaca Capital Inc. At a first closing Pasaca would convert three earlier notes and lend a further $1,500,000 under a $4,500,000 secured convertible note, convertible into 154,228,625 shares. At a second closing it would buy $10,500,000 of stock, reaching 51.0% of the fully diluted shares and the right to appoint three directors. Both closings carried numerous contingencies. Pasaca was also appointed distributor of the company's Quantum Dots and QMC HealthID products, guaranteeing at least $15,000,000 of cumulative revenue. At February 2, 2021 the deal was unfinished.
Written from the 17 story beats below (2008 to 2 Feb 2021), which come from the company's own announcements and filings.