Imperial Sugar Company, the bankrupt US sugar giant, announced this week that it has agreed to sell its Michigan Sugar operations to Michigan Sugar Beet Growers, Inc. (MSBGI) Under the terms of the agreement, the company will sell to MSBGI all of the wholly-owned capital stock of Michigan Sugar Company and Great Lakes Sugar Company and license and sell certain intellectual property related to the Michigan Sugar operations. Imperial would continue to market the refined sugar products for a minimum term of ten years. Terms of the transaction include an initial cash payment of $55 million (60.29m Euro), the assumption of $18.5 million (20.28m Euro) in industrial development bonds by MSBGI and a $10 million (10.96m Euro) deferred payment provision. The net proceeds will be used to reduce debt. Net sales from the Michigan Sugar operations for the year ended September 30, 2000, were approximately $181.9 million (199.41m Euro). James C. Kempner, President and CEO of Imperial Sugar Company commented, "The purchase of Michigan Sugar gives the sugarbeet grower-owners complete control over their production from seed to refined sugar while Imperial is able to utilise the proceeds from the sale to continue its program of debt reduction." In January this year Imperial Sugar Co., filed for bankruptcy protection attributing its problems to significantly lower sales prices for refined sugar together with higher energy costs. The company expects to complete reorganisation by the end of September 2001.
