| New York, June 21 (BridgeNews) - Florida Crystals Corp. in
Palm Beach is likely to buy Domino Sugar, which owns three
U.S. refineries, from parent Tate & Lyle PLC this autumn,
if not sooner, industry observers said Thursday. That purchase
would combine Domino's Baltimore, Md. and Brooklyn, N.Y.
plants with a Yonkers, N.Y. refinery, half owed by Florida
Crystals. The Florida company would then control the lucrative
New York market and much of the U.S. northeast.
"People from Florida Crystals and Refined Sugars have
toured the Brooklyn plant within the last two weeks," a
union leader here said. "It's expected that Florida
Crystals will buy all three Domino refineries."
Refined Sugars, Inc., which operates the Yonkers plant, is
50% owned by Florida Crystals.
"Since Florida Crystals is part owner of the Yonkers
plant, when they buy Domino they'll own the New York market,
where big bucks are made," the union leader observed. The
New York metropolitan market is a concentration of consumers
and industrial users.
"Two weeks ago, we said the company was in advanced
talks to sell Domino and have nothing new to add,"
commented Clive Rutherford, executive with Tate & Lyle
North America in Baltimore on Thursday.
In the 1970s, Tate & Lyle owned the Yonkers plant, but
then sold it to Refined Sugars, Inc.
In addition to its Baltimore and Brooklyn units, Tate's
Domino owns a major refinery in Chalmette, Louisiana.
"I don't think Florida Crystals wants Chalmette, but
since Tate plans to sell the whole Domino business, they'll
take it," the labor leader said.
Florida Crystals may buy the Chalmette operation in a
partnership with Louisiana cane growers, he added.
Tate & Lyle settled a bitter, 20-month strike with
union workers at its Brooklyn Domino plant in February. Only
half of the nearly 300 members of ILA Local 1814 who went on
strike returned to work there in March. Brooklyn now finishes
and packages sugar syrup shipped up by barge from Baltimore.
Unionized workers at Refined Sugars' Yonkers plant, which
is close in size to Domino's Brooklyn operation but smaller
than the big Baltimore refinery, will negotiate a new contract
with management this September. A number of former employees
of Domino's Brooklyn plant now work in Yonkers. Refined Sugars
sells its products under the brand Jack Frost sugar.
Florida Crystals Corp. controls nearly 180,000 acres of
sugar and rice in Florida. The company operates three sugar
mills, a rice mill and a packaging and distribution center.
Tate & Lyle PLC is headquartered in London. |