McKenzie Bay Settles Debt Dispute

MUSKEGON -- The struggling, longtime wind energy firm McKenzie Bay International Ltd. (Pink Sheets: MKBY) Thursday announced is pleased to announce that it has satisfied its outstanding debt with Jersey City, N.J.-based  YA Global Investments LP.

Formerly based in Brighton, McKenzie Bay is now based at the Michigan Alternative and Renewable Energy Center in Muskegon, a business incubator and green power demonstration and education center operated by Grand Valley State University.

The original 2005-2006 financial contracts with YA Global provided $6.5 million in funding to McKenzie Bay and were the focus of a lawsuit in 2009 that was settled before going to trial. McKenzie Bay's financial obligations to YA Global are now completely satisfied.

YA Global is the main fund of the hedge fund firm Yorkville Advisors LLC.

"It has been a long road and a challenging process to get to this point," said McKenzie Bay president and CEO Kevin Cook. "We've said from the beginning that our primary goal was to rescue the company from the financial and administrative disarray that it had fallen into and put it on a path towards becoming a healthy and sustainable business, restoring value to McKenzie Bay for our shareholders. This announcement today represents a major step forward in pursuit of that goal."

McKenzie Bay officials said Bryan Zaplitny, Clean Green Energy president and CEO, and his team have played a critical role in satisfying YA and the erasure of nearly $15 million in debt since the new McKenzie board of directors was seated in March, 2009.

"Their efforts for McKenzie Bay's benefit over the last five years reinforce my belief that CGE will be a great business partner going forward," Cook said.

Management is now able to focus on performing its part in the new business agreement with Clean Green Energy announced last week for the commercialization of CGE's WIND-e20 wind turbine. (More information at www.winde20turbine.com.) The agreement provides McKenzie Bay with multiple one-time and downstream revenue streams as well as being a 5 percent owner in CGE resulting in future shareholder value. CGE has already launched two marketing campaigns -- "Wind for a Better Community Grant" and "Start Some Good" -- as it prepares to start manufacturing and distribution nationwide.