A battle over cash flow and financial control has gone from the boardroom to the courtroom for Seegrid Corp.
However, the Pittsburgh, Penn.-based company itself is not list as a party to the suit of the action and therefore is not commenting on the matter at this time, notes the Business Journal.
The suit seeks to keep majority Seegrid shareholder Giant Eagle from “interfering with the management agreement” plus unspecified damages, accusing Giant Eagle of questionable behavior at a vulnerable moment in Seegrid’s development.
Seegrid, which started as a 2003 spinoff from Carnegie Mellon University, makes robotic vehicles to handle tasks in industrial settings such as materials handling and warehouse operations. It is best known for its unmanned pallet truck that transports products using vision-guided technology. CMU, also in Pittsburgh, is arguably the nation’s top shop for robotics, with faculty, adjuncts and graduate students working on space robotics, medical robotics, industrial systems, computer vision, and artificial intelligence.
Anthony Horbal, immediate past CEO of Seegrid.
In the complaint filed a week ago in Allegheny County Court of Common Pleas, the immediate past CEO of Seegrid, Anthony Horbal, said Giant Eagle blocked his timely efforts to secure outside capital meant to save Seegrid from financial jeopardy.
“Our clients believe Giant Eagle and its principals are attempting to hijack one of Pittsburgh’s most promising companies – in an effort to garner its tremendous value for themselves,” Horbal’s attorney, William A. Brewer III, partner at Bickel & Brewer in Dallas, told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette via email. “Our clients believe that Giant Eagle took direct aim at them and took steps to force them out of the company they helped build.”
However, a Giant Eagle spokesman in a statement predicted that the petition will be dismissed.
“As the majority shareholder in Seegrid Corp., Giant Eagle continues to believe that Seegrid can be a successful company. Contrary to the allegations in the complaint, Giant Eagle has always acted appropriately as a Seegrid shareholders. The complaint … contains numerous material misstatements and is wholly without merit,” says Rob Borella, senior director of corporate communications.
Giant Eagle has until Aug. 25 to file a formal response in court.
Seegrid was first funded by a small group of investors and a contract from Samsung, according to the lawsuit. Horbal and his investment group, HERC Management Services LLC, invested $3 million in return for 20 percent ownership, but Horbal’s group’s ownership interest in now no more than 16 percent, the suit says. In contrast, Giant Eagle would own more than 60 percent of Seegrid if it were to convert its notes into stock.
