vertichem executive overview - 2011

www.vertichem.com turning specialty chemicals green

executive overview:

Vertichem


Vertichem: An Overview

Vertichem is an innovative green-tech company and one of the world’s leading practitionersof industrial-scale green chemistry. The company produces environmentally friendly chemicals that are sold to the commercial, manufacturing, food, consumer goods and pharmaceutical markets.

Vertichem creates three valuable products from hardwood chips: lignin, xylose and cellulose.With ample access to raw materials from sawmills and forestry operations, primarily in NorthAmerica, Vertichem has the ability to convert low-cost waste into valuable natural productsthat can act as renewable substitutes for oil-based chemicals.

Many Fortune 500 companies need a way to reduce their reliance on petrochemicals. Themarket for petrochemicals is increasingly volatile and uncertain. For strategic and economicreasons, these companies are searching for viable alternatives to meet their chemical needs.

These firms can use Vertichem specialty chemicals to reduce the volume of petrochemicalsin widely used goods such as computers, paints, running shoes and packaging.

Vertichem holds the exclusive U.S. patents for the breakthrough process that convertswoody biomass into specialty chemicals.

The company is led by Chairman and Chief Executive David Milroy. Milroy founded the company with a vision to commercialize green chemistry. He is a savvy businessman with atrack record of taking large, industrial ideas and turning them into practical realities.

www.vertichem.com turning specialty chemicals green 1

For the past 150 years, the global chemical industry has been dominated by the Petroleumor “Crude” Economy. The “Petroleum Business Model” required the production of an originally abundant, but non-renewable and non-sustainable, natural resource (petroleum),and the separation of the complex mixture of hydrocarbon materials into its pure component parts.

Some of these components were readily useable for numerous valuable applications. Othersbecame “platform chemicals” that could be transformed by further processing into evenmore valuable components. This stage-wise refining process added tremendous value, asthe sum of the pure components proved to be worth far more than the value of the crudemixture itself.

The Crude Economy is unsustainable. Known reserves of petroleum are diminishing, production costs for exploitation of new reserves are rising, and few large deposits are beingdiscovered.

What’s more, environmental risks and costs are growing exponentially as exploration movesinto Arctic, deepwater and other difficult environments.

Vertichem’s business model is patterned after the well-known and understood petroleumeconomy business model. But there is a critical difference: Vertichem’s feedstock—biomass—is a renewable and sustainable natural resource. Vertichem is facilitating the transition from the crude economy to a new green economy.

The Need: Transforming the Global Chemicals Marketplace

www.vertichem.com turning specialty chemicals green2

Hardwood

Direct use as feedstock

Vertichem patented biomass fractionation

Xylose(Sweetener)

High value products

Natural Lignin(Chemicals)

Cellulose/Ethanol

Plant and animal matter Fossil fuel Fractionation

LPG

High value products

Petrochemicals

Transport fuels

Industrial fuels

Other

150-year-old “Crude” Economy

The Green Economy

In Vertichem’s view, the real value of biomass is found not in converting it into ethanol, but inrecovering the lignin, xylose and cellulose, provided they are recovered virtually intact andwithout degradation. The highest value of biomass may be realized by separating and recovering each major component – lignin, xylose and cellulose – for use as “green chemicals.”


A liquid transportation fuel created from biomass (such as ethanol) is a fungible commodityproduct. As such, it reflects the lowest unit pricing of all potential biomass products. It is alsomost influenced by the market fluctuations of crude oil. On the other hand, chemical products—often categorized as intermediate, specialty, and fine chemicals—generally command a price premium relative to liquid fuels. It is in this space that Vertichem sees thegreatest potential for growth and profit.

Commodity chemicals are often characterized as those with unit prices below $1/kg andwith volumes above (usually exceeding) 1 million kg/yr. Specialty chemicals overlap thisrange, with some products ranging into the tens of millions of kg/yr, down to tens of thousands of kg/yr. Unit prices range up to $10/kg. These fine chemicals occupy the highest-value and lowest-volume range, characterized by pharma products and custom-produced proprietary materials, most requiring multiple-step synthetic processing.Prices for fine chemicals range from $10/kg to over $10,000/kg (for some pharmaceuticals),with volumes generally less than 1000 kg/yr.

Volume

Mar

ket P

rice

Pharmaceuticalsand fine

chemicals

Specialtychemicals

Commoditychemicals

Composition of Plant Cell Wall

Chemical Price/Volume Profile

Herbaceous

Wood

Secondary wallPlasma membrane

Rosette

LigninCellulose

Hemicellulose

Protein

Middle lamellaPrimary wall

SOURCE: Nature Reviews (Genetics), Volume 9, June 2008


Vertichem recognizes the value potential of specialty chemical products. Eighty percent ofVertichem’s product revenue is to be derived from lignin and xylose streams (including xylitol,furfural and, potentially, xylose fermentation). Purified lignin products, xylitol and furfural derivatives can all be considered to be value-added chemical products, as opposed toethanol, which is a commodity liquid fuel.

Whereas petroleum may be viewed as “ancient stored sunlight,” biomass represents modernsunlight as stored in plant cell walls. Vertichem’s patented biomass conversion process gently separates the complex mixture of hydrocarbon materials found in trees, shrubs andplants into their pure component parts.

As with Crude Economy processes, some of the end components are readily useful for valuable applications. Other components may be used as “platform chemicals,” to be transformed by further processing into even more valuable components.

4

Wood Fibre/Residues

BIO-REFINERY

Mixing • Transportation • Storage

BIO-FUELS ANDBIO-ENERGY• co-generation• district heating• pellets

TRADITIONALPRODUCTS• pulp and paper• lumber

2ND GENERATIONFUELS• cellulosic ethanol• renewable

diesel

HIGH-VALUECO-PRODUCTS• bio-chemicals• bio-materials• advanced

products

RANGE OF POSSIBLE VALUE-ADDED CO-PRODUCTS

Biomass Yields Multiple Valuable Co-Products

For too long, the discussion in North America over biomass has centered around ethanoland other plant-based transportation fuels. There has been very little thought regarding industrial processes and green chemicals from waste streams. This oversight presents atremendous opportunity for far-sighted entrepreneurs and investors.

SOURCE: Forestry Products Association of Canada Report, February 2011


Chemicals produced by the oil and gas industry are ubiquitous in manufacturing today.These petrochemicals are the raw materials for glues, resins, polymers and plastics. Manymarket participants do not yet realize the huge underlying opportunity in developing alternatives to these petrochemicals.

Chemicals derived from renewable biomass offer an opportunity to address an entire industry, not just a particular application. Vertichem is positioned to replace the current platform of traditional, petroleum-based chemicals with bio-sourced alternatives.

In doing so, Vertichem is fundamentally and structurally altering the need for industrial companies to be dependent on costly fossil fuels as a basis for many of their products.

Large industrial companies are looking for viable alternatives to petrochemicals at the beginning of a product life cycle. Vertichem makes products that can be easily substitutedfor current raw materials at less cost to the purchaser.

Large industrial companies also need to solve the problem of toxic-product disposal at theend of a product life cycle. Green specialty chemicals derived from biomass solve this problem with a simple concept: the more natural the input, the less toxic the output.

That is the value proposition that Vertichem offers: through the creation of green chemicals,there is the opportunity to make the consumer goods we enjoy every day better, cheaperand more sustainable.


Vertichem’s Technology

Vertichem’s patented process is a total biomass processing technology that produces “greenchemicals” from woody biomass. This biomass comes from hardwoods and hardwoodwaste streams from the timber and forest products industries. Vertichem takes somethingthat was once thought relatively worthless and transforms it into something valuable andmarketable.

Vertichem’s technology was originally developed by BioJoule Limited, a New Zealand company that Vertichem acquired in 2007.

Using ethanol as an organic solvent, the process separates woody biomass into its corecomponents: lignin, hemicellulose and cellulose. The unique nature of the process allows thevaluable non-cellulose components (lignin and xylose) to be recovered and used as high-value platform specialty chemicals.

Ethanol 70%Lignocellulosic material

Liquid(fraction 1)

Cellulose

Enzyme

Hot Water

Liquid(fraction 2)

Water

Distillation

Ethanol

Water

GlucoseXylose

Lignin(Mw 6000)

Simple Schematic of Vertichem’s Process


Organic solvents have been used since the early 1920s for the separation and study ofwood components. The objective of an organic solvent extraction is to dissolve and removelignin plant matter, leaving a cellulose-containing pulp. Organic solvents such as methanoland ethanol have formed the basis of environmentally friendly alternatives to the heavily polluting, alkaline Kraft pulping processes that are predominantly employed by thepulp and paper industry. Vertichem’s process represents an advanced, environmentallyfriendly technology.

The advantage of ethanol-based pulping is that it produces high yields of good-quality pulpin a short amount of time. It also produces a sulfur-free lignin that is easy to capture.

Vertichem’s patented process provides for the production of high-quality lignin. It also producesxylose, a high-value natural sugar. These two products represent over 80 percent of the potential revenue that can be generated from biomass.

Vertichem’s patented process provides:

• better recovery of high-quality, high-molecular-weight lignin;

• recovery of hemicellulose as xylose;

• more efficient conversion of clean cellulose pulp to glucose, and then fermentationto ethanol or other biofuels and biochemicals; and

• lower operating pressures and temperatures.

Vertichem’s Patent

Vertichem’s patent describes a process for the treatment of plant material. Biomass is put incontact with liquid ethanol to produce

(i) a first liquid fraction from which the lignin is extracted,

(ii) a solid fraction that is subsequently processed with hot water to produce

a. a second liquid fraction containing the hemicellulose sugar (mainly as xylose), and

b. a cellulose solid fraction that can be enzymatically hydrolyzed into glucose and then fermented into ethanol.

Thus, Vertichem’s patent protects an integrated process for separating, or fractionating, biomass into green chemicals (lignin and xylose) and glucose-derived biofuels and biochemicals. The patent contains other claims describing the characteristics of the isolatedlignin, and additional broad dependent claims relating to the xylose, xylitol, furfural and cellulose isolated by the same process.


Award of U.S.-Based Patent

On January 19, 2010, Vertichem was awarded an exclusive U.S.-based patent for its gentle,integrated processing of plant biomass. The patent applies to three related but distinct pro-cessing stages at the core of Vertichem’s business. These include: the extraction of high-quality lignin from woody plant material; the production of xylose from the hemicelluloses;and the efficient hydrolysis of cellulose present in plant material to form glucose, which isthen fermented to produce ethanol.

This patent approval secures Vertichem’s ability to produce natural, environmentally soundgreen chemicals and biofuels using the company’s proprietary process.

Vertichem’s team of scientists is continually researching, developing and assessing theworld’s latest specialty chemical technologies, bioproducts, feedstock and biofuel innova-tions. The authors of Vertichem’s patents are part of a highly talented, fully integrated teamthat develops new and innovative ways to create sustainable technology.

8

Organic Solvent(ethanol)

Pretreatment Black LiquorLignin recovery

+ drying Lignin

Hot WaterPretreatment

(Hemicelluloseextraction)

Yellow Liquor Crystallization Xylose

Clean pulp(Sales to existing

pulp & paper plants)Conversionto Ethanol Ethanol

Optional process

Untreated feedstock(hardwood chips)

VertichemDigester

Vertichem Process and Product Streams


Vertichem’s primary products are lignin, xylose and cellulose. They are alternatives to petrochemicals used in the industrial, commercial, food, consumer goods and pharmaceutical markets. (There is an option for Vertichem to convert cellulose tobiofuels/biochemicals or to sell it to hardwood pulp mills.)

Of Vertichem’s initial suite of products, lignin has the greatest sales potential. The term“lignin” defines the polymeric material located in the plant cell wall, the second most abundant polymer found in nature. Lignin is a complex, high-molecular-weight polymer thatoccurs naturally in plants and trees, and it is one of the most abundant raw materials availableon earth. It is characterized by relatively high strength, excellent rigidity, good impactstrength, and high resistance to ultraviolet light.

The polyphenolic nature of lignin and its low toxicity, together with many additional positivecharacteristics (binding ability, thermal stability, specific UV-absorbing capacity and flame-retardant properties), make it an ideal renewable replacement for a number of fossilfuel-derived polymer feedstocks. Its structure makes it suitable for incorporation into adhesives,plastics, glues, paints and resins, and perhaps even carbon fiber.

Vertichem’s Potential Products

LIGNIN XYLOSE CELLULOSE/ETHANOL

• Blended sale to progressivelyreplace petroleum based ingredients

• High quality lignin opens evenlarger markets with new greenapplications

• Ingredient sale to food ingredients and pharmaceuticalmarkets

• Xylose is feedstock for xylitol(healthy sugar substitute) andfood base for flavorings industry

• Ethanol for commodity biofuelsales

• Cellulose as direct sales topulp and paper sector

• PVC fillers and additives

• Adhesives & epoxy resins

• Polyurethanes

• Carbon fiber

• Food additives

• Xylitol

• Personal care products

• Pharmaceuticals

• Transportation fuels

• Fuel additives

• Solvents

• More economical input forpulp and paper plants


The global petrochemical market is estimated to be US$600 billion. The biggest problemsfacing petrochemical manufacturers today are the availability and pricing of chemical feedstocks. The petrochemical industry is desperately seeking renewable and sustainable alternatives to petroleum-based feedstocks.

There are many examples of industrial chemical and petrochemical feedstocks that potentiallycan be displaced by lignin. Lignin can be used in plastics, paints, resins and adhesives. Thistotal market alone can be conservatively estimated at over US$60 billion.

Lignin has been successfully introduced into a polyurethane resin used for the production ofpolyurethane rigid foam. Rigid foams are high-grade insulation used in commercial and industrial construction (floors, walls, ceilings and roofs), appliances (refrigerators and freezers)and automobiles (dashboards, roofs, etc.).

Additionally, phenol derived from natural lignin could displace phenol currently supplied foradhesive resin production and other uses by the petrochemical industry. Phenolic resins arethe primary adhesives in the wood industry for the manufacture of particleboard, orientedstrand board, hardboard, plywood and engineered wood products such as laminate. Phenolis also used as a feedstock for the production of chemicals such as bisphenol A, which isused to make polycarbonate and epoxy resins. The total global market demand for phenol isin excess of 10 million tons per annum. Furthermore, the use of lignin to partially displacephenol in adhesive manufacture has also been successfully applied to the manufacture offriction products including automotive brake pads and moldings.

Phenolic resins are a critical ingredient for virtually all paints, coatings, glues and other adhesives produced for consumer and industrial uses. Major phenol producers and keyniche players worldwide include Dow Chemical Company, Ertisa, Georgia Gulf Corp, IneosPhenol, Mitsui Chemicals, Rhodia Paulinia, Shell Chemicals, Sunoco Chemicals, Syndial andEnichem.

Lignin is also a polyol, which means it reacts easily with a variety of chemical agents. Almost80 percent of the global polyol production is consumed each year by the polyurethane industry. Therefore, the growth in demand for polyols is largely a function of growth inpolyurethane production. The global production of polyurethane is estimated today to beover 10 million tons per annum. China represents the fastest-growing market forpolyurethane at 4 million tons (2009). The global production capacity of polyether polyols andpolyester polyols is estimated to be in the region of 5 million and 1.5 million tons annually.

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Vertichem expects to be able to recover additional green chemicals from waste streams afterestablishing core competencies in production and sales of lignin, xylose and cellulose-basedproducts.

The company is positioning itself as a total hardwood biomass processing company, usingwaste hardwood resources to produce renewable and sustainable biobased products thatare better-performing, competitively priced and environmentally superior to petroleum-basedproducts and other counterparts currently on the market.

Vertichem’s industrial customers will have the ability to purchase its green chemicals as additives and partial substitutes for existing feedstocks, thereby allowing them to demonstrateto their own end-use customers that they are steadily improving their own “sustainabilityfootprint.”

It’s important to note that Vertichem has no expectations of being able to attract “green pricing premiums” on its products. That is all too often a false hope, one to which manycompanies and investors cling. It has historically been responsible for many failed enterprises.

Vertichem’s objective is to produce high-quality green chemical products at price pointsbelow existing petroleum-based and other feedstocks. The company’s patented process hasthe ability to assist the multi-billion dollar specialty chemical industry in meeting its sustainability objectives, while simultaneously developing commercially viable innovativeproducts.


Vertichem’s Advantage

In the “Petroleum Business Model,” the exploration for, and production of, petroleum comprises the “upstream” business. The refining of petroleum and distribution of productscomprises the “downstream” business. The most successful petroleum companies are thosethat achieved vertical integration, taking part in the ownership of production of petroleum(upstream assets), as well as in the development and operation of refineries and petrochemical plants (downstream assets) through the ultimate marketing and sales of finishedproducts.

Vertichem believes one of the keys to becoming a leader in the emerging “Biomass BusinessModel” will be to achieve vertical integration of upstream and downstream resources.

Vertichem’s business model is to achieve “virtual” vertical integration through strategic jointventures, relationships and partnerships with large forestry/biomass resource owners, andwith industry partners already in the chemical and petrochemical industries.

Achieving true upstream vertical integration through ownership of biomass feedstock resources would be extremely difficult, as it would require the purchase of large tracts of landand/or harvest rights or timber concessions to large tracts of land. The latter almost alwayscome with obligations that require existing forestry management and forest-product manufacturing operations.

As such, Vertichem’s more cost-effective business model is to collaboratively partner withmajor timber-resource owners and forest-product manufacturers to achieve the same result.In this way, Vertichem can share in the financial potential created by its patented biomassconversion process and thereby add value to the forest resource owners’ upstream assets.

Vertichem’s business model is to build, own and operate downstream biomass biorefineriesin order to achieve maximum return on investment. In addition, Vertichem plans to partnerwith existing specialty chemical manufacturers to accelerate growth and to benefit from already-established marketing, sales and distribution channels.

Vertichem’s partnering model will provide the company with the effective vertical integrationfootprint of a much larger enterprise.


Potential Competition

Vertichem’s process relies predominantly on hardwood wastes produced by the forest products and sawtimber industries (50 percent or more of trees harvested end up as wastematerials). Where others see waste, Vertichem sees and creates enormous value.

This approach contrasts with most of Vertichem’s potential competitors in the biomass conversion and green chemicals industry. The majority of those companies are exclusivelyfocused on agricultural residues and softwood resources as feedstocks of choice.

Vertichem is aware of only a few biomass biorefining companies currently targeting hardwoodbiomass as their preferred feedstock. Of course, more companies may seek to develophardwood-based processes in the future.

Similarly, Vertichem expects to face competition for hardwood feedstocks from bioenergycompanies seeking sources for conversion into wood pellets or for burning to produce electricity in biomass-fired power plants (or co-firing in fossil-fuel power plants).

Vertichem believes, however, that its process for converting hardwood biomass into high-value products is more advantageous economically and environmentally than burningbiomass for its thermal energy or calorific content.

Vertichem faces competition from the manufacturing operations of hardwood pulp and papermills, many of which are evaluating the relative merits of integrated biomass refining to recover more than just the cellulose or “fiber” component of the hardwood feedstocks usedin their mills.

The company believes its patented process can provide enormous advantages to pulp andpaper mills. Vertichem has already engaged in discussions with several pulp and paper industry companies about processing hardwood feedstocks to recover the more valuablegreen specialty chemical products, and delivering the resulting fiber stream to the mill for traditional processing.

The Geographic Difference

Vertichem views North America as its primary market for initial biomass biorefinery development, and contains abundant hardwood resources. What the Middle East is to oil,North America is to hardwoods.


The market for Vertichem’s products, however, is global.

Additional biorefinery project development potential exists in South America, Europe, Asia,Australia and New Zealand. Each of these geographic areas is distinct in terms of biomassresources, customer base and product requirements. Even within North America, there areregional differences in the types of biomass resources and market opportunities available.

For this reason, Vertichem is placing great emphasis on developing biorefinery projects in theUnited States, particularly the southeastern U.S. region, with sales of products to serve regional and national markets. The southeastern U.S. region has an abundance of bothhardwood resources and agricultural residues, both of which make ideal feedstocks for Vertichem’s process.

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USA

Canada

North American Locations for Feedstock Supply


Overall, Vertichem believes that a focused geographic presence and market penetration willfacilitate more rapid biorefinery development and greater economies of scale as it expandsproduction and marketing of products. Vertichem expects, however, to be able to move toother regional and national markets by using a modular biorefinery design and standardizedconstruction and operating template for quality and cost control.

A Plan for Accelerating Growth

Vertichem plans to accelerate business growth and maximize financial performance by employing the following business strategies:

• Strategic Joint Ventures – Pursue profitable, strategic joint-venture and collaborative relationships with industry leaders in the (i) forestry biomass, (ii) specialty chemical processing and (iii) product development and end-use applications sectors and markets inorder to achieve virtual vertical integration;

• Focused Geographic Presence – Maintain a focused geographic presence to facilitateearly biorefinery development and marketing capabilities, expanding to other regional andnational markets prudently while maintaining quality- and cost-controls; and

• Disciplined Acquisitions – Expand and grow through disciplined acquisitions in the biomass-conversion and green chemicals industry to complement Vertichem’s own emerging market position and manufacturing capabilities.

Satisfying Real Markets, Not Political Markets

In order to operate on a global basis, a company needs to be able to operate independentlyand successfully, without subsidies or other forms of external support. If you have a robustbusiness plan and a company that can operate free from such support, then long-term success looks promising. An increasing number of companies in the market are unable tosurvive on their own and are forced to rely on government help.

This is a problem, and, in many respects, there is a remarkable inconsistency between various governments, and indeed various policies.

While governments can encourage certain innovations or technologies through tax incentives,from a business point of view, companies can easily find themselves on the wrong track ifthey are singularly focused on meeting subsidy criteria, rather than doing what’s right for theircompany and shareholders in the long run.


The Market Opportunity: A Real Market,Not a Political Market

Vertichem is targeting a multi-billion dollar existing chemicals market. The market applicationsand products already exist, and Vertichem aims to provide useful, high-quality substitutes fora portion of that market.

In many respects, Vertichem’s challenge is much easier than creating new markets for a suiteof entirely new products. Put simply, Vertichem doesn’t make the consumer products; Vertichem just makes the raw materials for consumer products greener and less expensive.

There are three primary ideas at the heart of Vertichem’s approach to the market.

• First, for green chemistry companies to be successful in the chemicals industry, their renewable, green products have to perform as well as or better than the existing petrochemicals.

• Second, the products must be competitively priced. It is not realistic to believe that manufacturers will pay more just to label their product “green.”

• Third, and most important, these products need to be non-disruptive. A company cannotoblige manufacturers to make modifications to their existing processes. The green chemicalsmust substitute neatly and seamlessly into already-existing manufacturing processes.

The adoption of Vertichem’s platform specialty chemicals will be because the company’sproducts meet these three criteria.

The fact that Vertichem’s products are genuinely green alternatives to existing petrochemicalsis an appealing extra. But, in some ways, this is the least important aspect of a product’sadoption in the marketplace. The green technology space is littered with failed companiesthat created green products not adopted by the marketplace. It is because those productswere not cost-competitive, they were of lesser quality than existing products, and/or they required disruptions in existing industrial processes to work. Vertichem’s products avoid all ofthese pitfalls.

Many industrial companies and end-product manufacturers that currently rely on petrochemicals are actively looking to make their products more sustainable – but withoutraising costs or creating inefficiencies. These and other firms are also interested in protectingagainst oil-price risk (and, in this era of potential peak oil, instability in the Middle East and soon, these firms are prudent to do so).


Any company that provides a means of enabling a shift away from petrochemicals, towardsreliable, cost-effective alternatives, will be welcome. Vertichem is one of the first companiesable to provide the alternatives that companies are currently seeking.

It’s important to note that Vertichem is focused on a new sector that today hasn’t really hadthe attention or growth of bioenergy. Despite this relative inattention, it has the potential tobecome a considerable industry on its own terms.

Investors are looking at companies in this sector that have patented technology, well-definedprocesses and a very clear market. As such, Vertichem is well-primed for the next phase ofgrowth.


Key Personnel

Vertichem’s management team combines decades of leadership in global businesses with atrack-record of bringing advanced technologies to market. The team, which has worked together before on global projects, understands how to turn large industrial ideas into reality.

Now, they have united to forge ahead with an ambitious plan to commercialize green chemistry and bring sustainability potential to new products.

David MilroyChairman & Chief Executive

David Milroy is an international entrepreneur with over 20 years of executive leadership experience at high-profile global technology companies in Asia, Europe and North America.

Milroy is currently Chairman and Chief Executive of Vertichem, an innovative green-tech company headquartered in Toronto. He founded the company with a vision to commercializegreen chemistry. In the past three years, Milroy has grown the company’s presence on threecontinents, succeeded in landing multiple rounds of investment funds and secured the exclusive U.S. patents for Vertichem’s breakthrough process of converting hardwood chipsinto green chemicals.

Milroy has made a career of converting large, industrial ideas into practical realities. As an executive at Global Crossing in the 1990s, he led groundbreaking projects like the worldwideinstallation of the world’s first sub-sea, fiber-optic infrastructure.

Milroy’s arrival on the green-tech scene comes at a time when corporations and policymakersare keen to find new ways to meet sustainability objectives, and wean economies off of oil.“The products all around us use petroleum-based chemicals,” Milroy says, citing a range ofregularly used goods like plastics, tennis shoes and computer keyboards. “I want to createnew sustainability potential for untouched markets.”

Prior to Vertichem, in the early 2000s, Milroy was President of Asia Global Crossing’s Asia-Pacific division, and Senior Vice President, Network and Operations, of the company’sHong Kong and Singapore arm. He was responsible for the development, deployment, implementation and operations of East Asia Crossing, a $2.5 billion fiber-optic submarinecable system that connected seven countries in the region. He also supported an IPO roadshowfor the company, which led to the raising of nearly $500 million.


Milroy has also held a number of executive-level positions across the telecommunications industry, including at Global Crossing Ltd., KPN International N.V., Unisource Satellite Servicesand Telstra Corporation.

Milroy received his Bachelor of Commerce in Marketing and Finance from the University ofNew South Wales, Australia

David M. BeattyVice Chairman

David Beatty is Vertichem’s Vice Chairman, bringing 25 years of experience in investmentbanking, principally focused on equity financing and mergers and acquisitions of mining andnatural resource companies. He is currently CEO of Rio Novo Gold Inc., a gold mining company listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX).

In 2002, Beatty co-founded Westwind Partners Inc., an investment bank (acquired byThomas Weisel Partners in 2008), and remained as Deputy Chairman, Investment Bankingand a Managing Director until January 1, 2010. Prior thereto, Beatty was Head of the Mining& Metals Group at First Marathon Securities (now called NB Financial) and a partner andHead of Mining Group at Gordon Capital Corporation. He was also a member of theTSX/OSC Mining Standards Task Force in 1997-98 that drafted the National Instrument43/101 regulations and is also a past member of the IDA Corporate Finance Committee.Beatty co-founded Yamana Resources Inc. with Victor Bradley in 1994 and advised on theacquisition of the Santa Elina property in May 2003.

Beatty holds a B. Comm. (Queen’s), M. Phil., International Affairs (Cambridge) and an MBA(Harvard Business School).

Roger WilliamsSenior Vice President, Corporate Development

Roger Williams is an accomplished international attorney and businessman, having started hiscareer as a chemical and petroleum engineer, rising through the ranks of industry giant,Exxon. He brings 30 years of engineering, legal and business experience to Vertichem, leading the company’s corporate development efforts and serving as General Counsel.

Prior to joining Vertichem, Williams founded International Biofuel Partners, a biofuels projectdevelopment company, which merged into Pure Power in 2007. He focused on developmentof biofuels projects in Asia and the Americas and forged strategic relationships with oil palmplantation owners in Southeast Asia and wholesale distribution channels in North America.


For the preceding 16 years, Williams practiced law in Washington, D.C., Singapore and HongKong, representing clients developing energy and petrochemical infrastructure projects, leading mergers and acquisitions, and handling complex energy litigation cases.

Williams led the Asia-Pacific practice of international law firm, Troutman Sanders LLP, as Managing Partner of its Hong Kong office for four years. In addition to building a vibrant practice and managing an international team of legal professionals, he represented clients inthe development and financing of power, energy and water infrastructure projects, and in resolving major contract disputes. During his tenure with leading international law firm Skadden,Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP, Williams was resident in Singapore, Hong Kong and Washington, D.C., representing top-tier energy clients in M&A deals and infrastructure projectdevelopment and finance. He served as lead outside counsel to a major energy company inupstream development of the massive Tangguh LNG Project in Indonesia.

Williams is a Solicitor of the High Court of Hong Kong, and Member of the District of Columbiaand Alabama State Bars. He received his J.D. from the University of Alabama School of Law(1991, Alabama Law Review, Order of the Coif), M.E. in Petroleum Engineering from TulaneUniversity (1991), and B.E. in Chemical Engineering from Vanderbilt University (1979).

Ed GuidaVice President, Project Development

Ed Guida is a highly skilled international senior executive, with extensive experience in delivering large infrastructure projects on time and on budget across Asia and the Americas.

Prior to joining Vertichem, he was Senior Director, Asia Pacific Program Management withGlobal Crossing Ltd. There, he oversaw the planning and construction of US$2 billion undersea cable systems in this region.

Before his stint at Global Crossing, Guida was with Tyco International Telecommunications,where he directed the sales efforts for undersea fiber optic systems.

Guida started his career with the Bell System in Bell Labs as a Member of Technical Staff andstayed there for 31 years, rising to become Managing Director for the Asia Pacific Region ofan AT&T Division.

He graduated from the Virginia Military Institute with a BSc in Electrical Engineering, and fromthe University of Michigan with a Masters in Electrical Engineering and Computer Technology.

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David Milroy [email protected] & Chief Executive

David Beatty [email protected] Chairman

Roger Williams [email protected], Corporate Development

Ed Guida [email protected], Project Development

Boonhian Kee [email protected], Business Operations

Jay Rhind [email protected], Business Development

Melanie McCreath [email protected], Communications & Administration

Address155 University Avenue, Suite 1240 Toronto, Ontario M5H 3B7, Canada t. +1 416 368 8288 f. +1 416 368 2988

Contact/General Information Page

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