Imperial Sugar teams up with Cargill for new refinery
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Imperial Sugar Co., a Breaux Bridge-based growers cooperative, and Minneapolis-based Cargill Inc. have secured financing for a previously announced $120 million sugar refinery that will lead to 145 jobs in Gramercy.
On Friday, the business partners announced they had received a $100 million tax-exempt bond offering to finance construction of the largest sugar refinery in the United States. Construction would bring another 500 temporary jobs.
The project was first announced 13 months ago, and the St. James Parish Council approved a resolution in late 2008 that paved the way for low-interest Gulf Opportunity Zone bond financing.
“Construction of the refinery will begin immediately,” said Lonnie Champagne, chief executive officer of the Sugar Growers and Refiners Inc. group, or SUGAR. “We expect that the new facility will be in operation early in 2011.”
The refinery will be built next to Imperial’s Gramercy facility and tap the GO Zone bonds under a federally backed and state-run program designed to help the region recover from hurricanes Katrina and Rita.
Imperial, SUGAR and Cargill will each contribute $30 million to fund construction and initial operations of the refinery. The three will equally own the mill.
Agricultural giant Cargill, with annual sales of $117 billion, is the second-largest private company in the U.S. behind Koch Industries, a fact that bolsters investor confidence in the deal.
The project’s bonds are rated Aa3 by Moody’s Investors Service on the basis of a letter of credit from Natixis, acting through its New York branch, and were underwritten by Thornton Farish Inc. and Natixis Securities North America Inc.
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