BACKGROUND INFORMATION
LASUCO was established on April 6, 1977, as a joint venture between the Federal Government of Nigeria and Mehta Group of India which eventually pulled out of the technical agreement in 1985. At inception, it was designed to have 7,750 hectares of sugar cane plantation and a processing refinery factory capable of producing 72,000 metric tonnes of refined white granulated sugar annually. Other facilities earmarked for the sugar complex included irrigation and drainage facilities, a bridge across River Egwa, 180 kilometers of farm roads and a large housing estate. The factory is an open pan mini-sugar plant with a production capacity of 60 tonnes per day. An unsuccessful attempt was made to privatize the company through Core Investor sale strategy in 2002. The privatization strategy of the sugar company changed to guided liquidation strategy because the expected proceeds would not be adequate to meet existing and contingent liabilities.
Three technical and financial bids were harvested from BUA International Limited, TAK Continental Limited and Duraclean Chemical & Allied Product. BUA emerged as the winner with the cost consideration of N135,000,000, the transaction was consummated in year 2007.
