Learning from Solar3D’s Success

Good morning!

OriginClear in the LA Business Journal!

Our home town business magazine’s Matt Pressberg did an in-depth article on our new acquisition strategy… Click on the photo for a link to the article (subscription required).

As a shareholder, you can view a copy of the article itself, for a short time.

The Solar3D story

Our current acquisition strategy takes a page from Jim Nelson at Solar3D.

Here’s how Erika Martin at the Pacific Coast Business Times told the story back in April:

Solar3D up-lists to NASDAQ on strength of acquisitions

The firm raked in $20.2 million in revenue for 2014 and reported operating income of $311,072, compared to an operating loss of $1.1 million for the same period in 2013.

…When CEO Jim Nelson joined Solar3D five years ago, leaving a 25-year career in private equity for the opportunity to work in Santa Barbara, the firm was just a small development. The technology never really took off, Nelson said, and he set to diversify the business to capitalize on opportunities in the burgeoning green energy sector…

Solar3D’s bread and butter has come to be expanding business through acquisitions. Since American companies can no longer viably compete with Asian ones in solar manufacturing, Nelson said his belief is that “if you really want to make a competitive company, you have to do it as fast as you can. So there’s no shame, if you’re a smart business guy and you love America, in partnering with other companies and other countries that do things well.”

So Nelson went shopping for companies that do solar integration. After its first purchase, a company in Roseville called SUNworks, Solar3D “boomed,” Nelson said, and SUNworks nearly tripled its sales in 2014, the first year after the sale.

The $12.5 million the up-listing brought in will help Solar3D shape up its balance sheet and fund additional acquisitions, Nelson said. And just being on the NASDAQ gives the firm increased equity for transactions as well as an expanded and solidified investor base.

“As an OTC company we just had a bunch of retail — which is individual — investors,” Nelson said. “It allows us to bring in institutions and do other things that will add to strength and stability of our investor base.”

Next, Nelson said the company is looking to acquire a couple more companies this year and two or three next year, targeting firms with between $10 million and $50 million in revenue located in California and Nevada, which account for well over half of U.S. installations…

Overall, SLTD has done very well with this strategy.

As always, we don’t claim that we will accomplish the same results, but the trend is encouraging.

The year to come

We’re hugely excited about the year to come! We expect our first acquisition to close in October, and we are already looking at more companies to acquire.

We plan to aggregate the fragmented water services market, intending five acquisitions or more in our three-year plan.

Exciting indeed.
Have a great week!

Riggs and Team

Riggs Eckelberry
President & CEO
OriginClear, Inc. (OOIL)

PS: Time is running out on the “Price Protection Plus” direct stock purchase offer for accredited investors only. If you are qualified and interested, please hit Reply now.