The $A 1.65 billion dollar bid by Chinese owned Bright Foods for Sucrogen, CSR's sugar division, really marks the end of an era.
CSR stands for the Colonial Sugar Refining Company. Founded in Sydney in 1855, CSR played a major role in the establishment of New England's sugar industry. As a kid visiting the sugar mills, I found them very impressive. They were, I think, the biggest industrial establishments in Northern New England. Certainly, they were huge to me.
CSR grew to be Australia's second largest company measured by turnover, and one of the top 200 in global terms. With diversification, sugar became a second string. Now, one way or another, CSR will exit its sugar interests.
I just wanted to record the passing.
2 comments:
This little piece reminded me of a tale when Campbells bought out an Australian company, Arnott's. They started life in the Hunter Valley river port Morpeth. A family descendant has re-opened a sour dough bakery in the original firm's Morpeth store.
CSR have been making a bit of noise about selling off their sugar interests so this comes as no surprise.
Mark, for some reason your comment has vanished. I just wanted to thank you for remimding me of the Arnott story. Oddly, I was in charge of the relevant area in Treasury's Foreign Investment Division when the Arnott's takeover went through!
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