Benefits & ERISA Law

State of Florida to Buy US Sugar While US Sugar ESOP Litigation Continues

By Suzanne Wynn

In a fascinating and completely unexpected twist to the U.S. Sugar ESOP class action lawsuit, the governor of Florida today announced that the State of Florida will buy U.S. Sugar for $1.75 billion. With the purchase, Florida will gain control over 187,000 acres of farmland in the northern Everglades while leasing the land back to U.S. Sugar for at least the next 6 years.

As the largest block of shareholders, the participants in U.S. Sugar’s ESOP will be the largest group of individuals affected by this purchase. Florida’s announced goal with this purchase is to gain control of the U.S. Sugar acreage to aid its plans to resurrect the Everglades. I originally wrote about the US Sugar ESOP litigation here.

More Information:

Booting US Sugar from the Everglades, Michael Gunwald, Time.com and Yahoo News;
US Sugar Class Action Lawsuit website, law firm of Colson Hicks Eidson.

Technorati Tags: Pension Protection Act, ppa, US Sugar, ESOP, Florida, ERISA

Full post as published by Pension Protection Act Blog on June 24, 2008 (boomark / email).