Acacia Research Corporation

Greetings and welcome to Acacia Research Third Quarter Earnings Results Conference Call. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. A question and answer session will follow the formal presentation. If anyone should require operator assistance during the conference, please press star zero on your telephone keypad. Please note this conference is being recorded. I will now turn the conference over to your host, Rob Fink, with FNK News. Investor Relations. Thank you. You may begin.

Thank you, Operator. Hosting the call today are Clifford Press Chief Executive Officer, Altovia Chief Investment Officer, and Rich Rosenstein Chief Financial Officer. Before beginning, I would like to remind you that the information provided during this call may contain forward-looking statements relating to current expectations, estimates, forecasts, and projections about future events that are forward-looking as defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements generally relate to the company's plans, objectives, and expectations for future operations and are based on the current estimates and projections, future results, or trends. Actual results may differ materially from those projected as a result of certain risk factors and uncertainties. For discussion of such risks and uncertainties, please see the risk factors described and Acacia's annual report on Form 10-K and quarterly reports on Form 10-Q, both of which are filed with the SEC. I would like to remind everyone that a press release disclosing the company's financial results was issued this morning before the market opened. This release may be accessed on the company's website at acaciaresearch.com under the news and events tab. With all that said, I would now like to turn the call over to Clifford Press. Clifford, the call is yours.

Thank you, Rob, and good morning, everyone. During the third quarter of 2020, the process of transferring assets acquired from the former Woodford Equity Income Fund continued. As of September 30th, 2020, all but four positions have been transferred. At present, two positions remain to be transferred. We will provide an overview of the assets we currently hold and also discuss transactions completed since this acquisition was announced. In addition, there have been some significant changes in valuations for holdings within the portfolio since September 30th, and we will discuss those briefly as well. With the Woodford transaction now largely behind us, we are focused on executing the investment strategy that we adopted as the foundation of our strategic alliance with Starboard Value. We believe we have several important advantages, including Ready access to committed capital is required to execute transactions that we develop. Expertise in corporate governance and operational restructuring, which can help us resolve structural impediments to value creation. We are willing to invest in out of favor industries or companies which suffer from a complexity discount. A proven ability to resolve complex multi-factor situations can be important as we take advantage of market inefficiencies. We intend to acquire operating companies, divisions, or other assets where we believe we can realize significant value following an operational or strategic restructuring. Our primary focus is on companies operating in mature technologies, healthcare, industrial, and certain financial services segments. We've been working closely with Starboard Value to evaluate investments and acquisitions based on the criteria I just outlined. It is worth noting that our efforts to make just such an investment led us to the Woodford investment. And our Woodford transaction would not have been possible without Skedford's support from the Starboard team and their unwavering financial commitment during the darkest part of the global pandemic selloff, which is thankfully now well on its way to being resolved. Al Tabea, our Chief Investment Officer, will now review the assets we hold following the Woodford transaction.