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“I want all the facts, the whole deal in front of them at once,” said Randon Wilson, a Salt Lake City attorney hired by the Rocky Mountain Sugar Growers Cooperative to oversee the purchase of Tate & Lyle’s U.S. sugar beet operations.

Tate & Lyle’s Western Sugar Co., with six refineries in four states including Billings and Lovell, Wyo., is being offered to the growers in Montana, Wyoming, Nebraska and Colorado for what appears to be a deep discount. Five grower associations in the four states make up the cooperative with each association having two members on the co-op board.

“I know they are frustrated at the lack of information right now,” Wilson said. “But I’d like them to keep it in perspective. I want them to have the whole picture.”

Wilson said he sent a letter to all the growers today explaining that he and the co-op board would be presenting the prospectus to all the growers soon and was scheduling meetings to explain it in detail.

Tate & Lyle, a British firm and the largest sugar company in the world, bought the six factories in 1985 from the Great Western Sugar Co., which at the time was in bankruptcy proceedings. Because of the collapse of U.S. sugar prices in the past year and other poorly performing assets, Tate & Lyle’s earnings and stock value have declined sharply since January. In May, its management indicated that it would sell its U.S. properties.

Last week, Tate & Lyle announced that it would take a $71.5 million write-down in British pounds in recognition of the proposed sale. That represents half of the book value of Western Sugar.

“The liquidation value of the company is greater than the sale price,” Wilson said. That means if Tate & Lyle liquidated the sugar company, it would gain more than by selling it to the farmers. Wilson in mid-October pegged the sale price at about $78 million.

Wilson said Tate & Lyle respects the growers who have produced for it these past 15 years. “They (the farmers) have been loyal, and they should have the opportunity to buy it,” he said. “Otherwise, they could just liquidate the bloody assets.”

Wilson said, “Western is a profitable company, just not as profitable as Tate & Lyle wants. That is why it makes sense for the growers to buy it. Also, there is no assurance that the industry (in this region) will survive if they don’t buy it.”

The U.S. sugar industry has been stung this year with the lowest prices in 20 years. Also, over-production has resulted in sugar processors forfeiting their sugar to the U.S. government because the market price is below the loan price. Processors who took a loan on their sugar have the option of paying off the loan if the market price is higher than the loan price or they can keep the loan and give the sugar to the government when the market price is below the loan. The cost of the forfeiture is then a liability to the taxpayers.

Wilson said some growers are cool to the idea of buying Western at a time when sugar prices are so low. He said the prospectus would lay out “how we are going to accomplish it.”

He said the price is fair and it would allow the farmers to keep the profits and keep the industry.

Wilson said the prospectus would be out the first week of December with grower meetings to be held thereafter.

Rick Dorn of Hardin, a beet farmer and president of the grower cooperative, said, “We will present the prospectus for about 30 days through mid-January.”

Wilson said his plan calls for a soft closing by the end of February and a final close by March 31.

The deal must get final approval from the Tate & Lyle board and the growers themselves.

Dorn said, “Star alignments are needed for all of the details to come together. We are moving forward. We are doing an environmental review and due diligence of the financial details.

“We want the farmers to have a sense of confidence that the homework has been done,” Dorn said. “There are lots of positives. This is an opportunity. That will come to light when we show them all the information.”

The board of the Mountain States Beet Growers of Montana, which represents the farmers who produce for the Billings sugar refinery, met this past week in Billings.

“The members want to grow beets. They want to stay in business,” said Ralph Amen, who farms west of town. “There is not enough information at this point, but grower meetings are being scheduled.”

“With the state of the (farm) economy, we cannot afford to lose this,” he said.

“It would be costly to quit growing,” said Mike Bernhardt of Park City. “This decision will have a major impact one way or another on the local economy.”

The direct economic impact of the Billings refinery is more than $50 million a year. That includes payments to growers, wages and benefits, locally purchased supplies, and taxes.

Bernhardt said there are positive and negative feelings about buying the company. “And a lot in between,” he said. “We’ll have to look real hard at this.”

Leroy Gabel, who farms near Huntley, said the proposal would “be a tough road to sell” because of the economy and the state of the sugar industry right now. “What kind of a future is there without stable sugar prices?” he asked. “Right now I don’t have enough information to make a decision. I think the price now is more realistic. I really can’t talk about it until I know more.”

In August, the estimated cost of Western Sugar was pegged at $100 million or $600 per contracted acre. In 2000, the company had 185,000 acres of sugar beets under contract from its growers. It has 600 employees.