Acacia Research Corporation

Greetings, and welcome to the Acacia Research First Quarter 2021 Financial Results Conference Call. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. A brief 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. As a reminder, this conference is being recorded. It is now my pleasure to introduce your host, Rob Fink of FNKIR. Thank you, sir. You may begin.

Thank you, operator. Hosting the call today are Clifford Press, Chief Executive Officer, Altobia, President and Chief Investment Officer, and Rich Rosenstein, Chief Financial Officer. Before beginning, I'd 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 operation and are based on 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 in Acacia's annual report on Form 10-K and quarterly reports on Form 10-Q, both of which are filed with the FCC. I'd 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 Acacia Research under the News and Events tab. On today's call, Clifford is going to provide a business update. Rich will review the quarterly financial results. And Al, who's joining remotely, will participate in the Q&A session. With all that said, I'd like to now turn the call over to Clifford Press. Clifford, the call is yours.

Thank you, Rob, and good morning, everyone. We remain focused on executing the strategy that we adopted as the foundation of our strategic alliance with Starboard Value LP. This strategy leverages our strong balance sheet and ready access to committed capital. also benefits from the inherent flexibility we have created, enabling us to pursue a range of potential transactions. We continue to work with Starboard Value, evaluating potential acquisitions within the small cap value sector. Our primary opportunity set remains the sub $2 billion public equity market. As we have said in the past, we view this segment as the least efficient area of the market and one that favors our primary research approach. and permanent capital structure. Over the last year, the robust market performance has slowed our top of funnel idea flow. However, with volatility and interest rate concerns increasing, we are beginning to see an increase in the number of public market opportunities again. We have added two private equity executives to our team to assist us in public and select private transactions. Our goal is to acquire operating companies in mature technology, healthcare, industrial, and certain financial services segments. As we evaluate new opportunities, we continue to maximize the value and return on our existing holdings. There are two recent developments to highlight. On April 30th, Eric's Bioscience, one of our public assets, announced the outcome of its strategic implementation review, culminating in a number of immediate board changes. This review was part of a shareholder engagement, which we were heavily involved. As a result of this review, Rob Lyon, formerly Chief Operating Officer and General Counsel of ARICS, was named interim CEO and appointed to the board. ARICS is now recruiting a permanent CEO. In addition, two Acacia nominees, Maureen O'Connell and Isaac Kohlberg, were appointed to the board of ARICS as non-executive directors. Finally, Peregrine Moncrief joined the board as non-executive chairman. Peregrine has established a distinguished record as chairman of another listed investment company over an extended period, and we are very fortunate to have him as chairman of ARICS. We are very supportive of these corporate governance improvements and believe these changes ensure that the company is served by a board that is responsive to its shareholders. And earlier this month, Oxford Nanopore raised £195 million, or $275 million, in new investment at a valuation of $3.5 billion. As part of this transaction, Oxford Nanopore also announced plans to complete an initial public offering. This follows the successful IPO by Immunocore in the first quarter as well. All of these transactions increase the options for liquidity for us and can help us to deliver enhanced value realization. We continue working to maximize the value of all our life sciences portfolio. This can be a time-consuming exercise. As such, we will continue to evaluate the most efficient options to complete the realization of value for our shareholders. With respect to our IP business, investments made over the past year resulted in a properly sized and well-balanced portfolio including both soft licensing and litigation. Our team is actively advancing a number of opportunities. With that, I'd like to turn the call over to Rich Rosenstein, our CFO, and discuss our results. Rich?