- Commercializing its osmosis technology that turns 90% of wastewater into clean water
- Seeks to go public on TSX Venture Exchange via a reverse takeover with Hope Well Capital
- Current CEO Howie Honeyman will head the new company
What Forward Water Technologies does:
Forward Water Technologies Inc does not like to waste water. The company is commercializing its proprietary forward osmosis technology that allows manufacturers to clean their wastewater and reclaim up to 90% of the waste as clean water.
Its low-energy requirements and capabilities make it a natural bolt-on companion technology to industrial treatment platforms already in place in the industrial wastewater, oil and gas, mining, agriculture, and ultimately municipal water supply and re-use market sectors.
Forward’s technology also has the potential to help alleviate the overall global demand for freshwater, which is becoming a scarce resource around the world.
The technology is a simple three-step process. Freshwater is reclaimed by extracting it through a membrane that has a highly concentrated draw salt solution on one side. Once that is complete the draw salt is removed for the extracted water by removing its two components -- CO2 and another volatile compound. Then those concentrated compounds are returned back to the forward osmosis unit for complete reagent recycling in a closed-loop process.
Forward Water was founded by GreenCentre Canada and is rooted on a platform technology discovered at Queen’s University in Ontario. The company’s corporate office is located in Mississauga, Ontario, and its research, development, and engineering office is in Sarnia, Ontario.
How is it doing:
In a milestone move, Forward Water has been laying the groundwork to go public on the TSX Venture Exchange. The company hopes to start trading in July 2021
In June, the company inked a definitive agreement with Hope Well Capital Corp to take Forward public by way of a reverse takeover.
The transaction – first announced in February 2021 – is structured as a three-cornered amalgamation that will see the resulting company operate as Forward Water Technologies Corp.
The merger and concurrent capital fundraising will strengthen the company as it focuses on North America and Europe for potential business opportunities.
Under the terms of the definitive agreement, Forward shareholders will receive five fully paid and non-assessable common shares in the capital of the new company for each company share held at $0.20 per resulting issuer share. Holders of outstanding Forward securities will have their securities replaced with securities of the new company in numbers and exercise prices, as applicable, adjusted based on the exchange ratio.
Current CEO Howie Honeyman will take the reins of the new company, with Wayne Maddever remaining in his COO role. Both executives will serve on the board of directors along with John Koehle and Andrew Pasternak, who will act as chairman.
In addition to the reverse takeover, Forward also in June raised $5.17 million through a brokered private placement. The company plans to raise another $1 million-plus via a second tranche.
In other news, the company recently signed its first technology license transfer contract with an India-based engineering services firm. Its Indian partner is currently involved in commercial trials on multiple sites and plans to expand the use of Forward’s technology throughout the region.
Inflection points:
- Gain approval to trade on TSX Venture Exchange
- Close reverse takeover agreement with Hope Well Capital
- Explore relationships that are mutually strategic
What the boss says:
“We looked at the venture capital markets. They were not particularly receptive to a clean-tech, capital-intensive company,” said CEO Howie Honeyman in a recent Proactive interview about Forward Water’s plans to go public via a reverse takeover.
“But the temperature and interest of the public markets was really quite clear. We were quite happy to follow the route. That’s going to give us the capital to allow us to enter full commercialization,” he added.
Contact the author: patrick@proactiveinvestors.com
Follow him on Twitter @PatrickMGraham