Sale of sugar mill to Singapore’s Sucrogen gets go-ahead from Proserpine creditors
Sucrogen, the Australian-based sugar subsidiary of Singapore-listed Wilmar International Limited, has been given approval to purchase Proserpine Sugar Mill by the mill’s creditors, Westpac Bank.
Sucrogen’s offer comprised a headline price of A$120 million, plus a working capital adjustment, normal settlement adjustments, as well as absorption of the mill’s normal operating costs and certain critical capital expenditure incurred from 31 October 2011.
Sucrogen CEO Ian Glasson said the creditors’ vote was a great outcome and paved the way for the sale transaction to be completed by the end of the year.
Proserpine Sugar Mill is based in North-East Queensland and is wholly-owned by 214 sugarcane suppliers. It is Australia’s fifth-largest raw sugar mill. Sucrogen faced competition from Tully Sugar Limited, which is owned by the China Oil and Food Company (COFC), to purchase the mill.
In November 2011, the mill was placed into voluntary administration after members of the co-operative failed to vote unanimously in support of Sucrogen’s takeover.
Mr Glasson said Wilmar had expressed a strong interest in working with growers to help expand Proserpine’s sugar industry for the future.
Why do we continue to allow the sale of strategic food assets to foreign interests especially where transfer pricing means that Australia does not get the full benefit of exports, and as a global food commodity used for ethanol as well as food there is no guarantee that the the food enough will remain here for Australians use? Is it the grab for cash and the absolute incompetence of governments to think strategically about building on our assets – our skills and our people? The rest of the world puts a value on our food – that is why they are buying the farm and the factory – but we do not. You cannot buy thsee assets in the countries buying up here.