what you seem to be saying is that Company A sold its trade secrets to company B. So Company A should have cash as a result of the sale. The shareholders have the value of the trade secrets sold to company B, right? Am I missing something?
Unless the cash from sale to company B was used to pay off creditors (not investors) of company A. Creditors have legal precedence over investors. The investor SHOULD receive some sort of accoutning at the end of the fiscal year, though.