Assets from Mo. sweetener plant to be auctioned

Friday, July 27, 2012

COLUMBIA, Mo. (AP) — The bondholder trustee for a failed artificial sweetener facility that was supposed to have brought more than 600 jobs in central Missouri said it will auction off assets this fall because it could not find a buyer for the plant.

In a public notice, UMB Bank officials said they spent at least four months searching for a buyer for Mamtek U.S. Inc.’s facility and contacted about 100 potential investors, according to the Columbia Daily Tribune (http://bit.ly/P3wvUG ). Several groups even signed confidentiality agreements as part of the effort, but the bank said it never received any offers to purchase Mamtek’s assets.

But Moberly city officials and the Moberly Area Economic Development Corp. said they recently received two detailed proposals for the site, and faulted UMB Bank for not considering those offers.

“Apparently because each of the proposals requested some degree of financial involvement by bondholders, the Trustee rejected both without attempting negotiations, terminated marketing efforts and is now seeking a liquidation sale of the assets,” the city and development corporation said in a statement.

Construction on the partially completed plant was halted last fall after Mamtek missed a payment to Moberly, a community of about 14,000 people 30 miles north of Columbia. The city issued $39 million of bonds for the project. The state offered about $17 million worth of incentives, but none were paid because the project fell apart before the company could ever receive the state aid.

UMB Bank eventually took control of the plant and filed a lawsuit against Mamtek in federal bankruptcy court. The bankruptcy trustee also filed lawsuit against the company’s CEO, claiming money from the bond funds went to personal use.

The project’s failure triggered a review by state lawmakers and investigations by Missouri Attorney General Chris Koster and the federal Securities and Exchange Commission.

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Information from: Columbia Daily Tribune, http://www.columbiatribune.com

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yamahamian 9 months, 4 weeks ago

The big elephant in the room here is - where is Bruce Cole?

He's off somewhere enjoying the fruits of his little scam on Moberly, the State of MIssouri, and even Jay Nixon who doesn't want to admit he himself was a catalyst for the success of Cole's scheme by jumping on the publicity bandwagon to 'pat himself on the back' for creating jobs which never came around.

Cole reportedly owns a side company Ramwell International, which it appears was created for the purpose of billing Mamtek somewhere in the $5-$8 million range of funds for services that authorities describe as questionable. Oh yeah, Cole spent some money on Mamtek, but it was far below the amount he reaped from the scam on a net basis. You gotta spend money to make money....

yamahamian 9 months, 4 weeks ago

Slight correction - Ramwell Industrial, not International (although I believe International was a prior company name).

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