USA fund invests in sugar in Brazil
Valor Econômico
Fort Corporation, an investment fund headquartered in Miami, United States, is announcing an investment of R$ 220 million (US$ 129.4 million) in a unit for the packing and distribution of sugar in Jundiaí, in the interior of São Paulo. Japy Alimentos, as the new company will be called, is the first investment of the fund in Brazil.
According to the Commercial Officer of the company, Edgar Guedes, Fort Corporation finances commodity exporting companies, mainly in the area of sugar and alcohol. "We have from 60 to 70 clients from which we buy sugar and export mainly to Europe and the Middle East", says Guedes. "Because of the crisis, we saw the capacity of the domestic market in Brazil is greater, so we decided to make the investment". The expectation of Japy is to pack and distribute 1.9 million tons of sugar a year and generate 3 thousand jobs by the end of 2012. The unit should be ready in a year.
The fund is also negotiating the setting up of a refinery in São Paulo city of Limeira - an investment that should reach R$ 840 million (US$ 494.1 million). "The idea is to pack the sugar from the new refinery that should be ready within only three years. Until then, the packaging plant of Jundiaí will work with the sugar from the Futures Contracts we already have with our clients", says the Officer. Once ready, 65% of production of the unit will go for the external market, 35% for the domestic market and 10% will be packaged in bulk for the food industry.
Both the R$ 220 million (US$ 129.4 million) of the packaging unit and the R$ 840 million (US$ 494.1 million) of the refinery, according to the Executive, will come from own resources of the fund. "We chose Jundiaí for its logistics infrastructure: it is the best place in the State of São Paulo", says the Executive. According to data of the Government of Jundiaí, the investments announced in the municipality in 2010 exceed R$ 800 million (US$ 470.6 million).