The American Sugar Refining Company (ASR) was the most significant American business unit in the sugar refining industry in the early 1900s. It had interests in Puerto Rico and other Caribbean locations and operated one of the world's largest sugar refineries, the Domino Sugar Refinery in Brooklyn, New York.
The Domino brand name was acquired in 2001 by Florida Crystals Corporation and rebranded as American Sugar Refining,[1] a new company created in 1998 and unrelated to the prior firm by that name.
History
Establishment
The Sugar Refineries Company or Sugar Trust was incorporated in late 1887,[2] with Henry Osborne Havemeyer as president.[3] Sugar Trust was forced to reorganize after the Sherman Antitrust Act of 1890 outlawed trusts that formed monopolies, such as the Sugar Trust.[2][4] The ASR was incorporated in the state of New Jersey on January 10, 1891 by Henry Osborne Havemeyer, with $50 million in capital.[5][6] By 1907, it owned or controlled 98% of the sugar processing capacity in the United States.[7][5]
With investments in food-picking and handling machinery companies in the Midwestern United States, the company faced a takeover by the British sugar company Tate & Lyle in 1980.[citation needed] How long this lasted is uncertain.
Domino Sugar was acquired by British company Tate & Lyle in 1988.[15]
Takeover
In 2001, Domino Sugar officially changed its name to Domino Foods, Inc.[11] The same year, Domino Foods was sold by Tate & Lyle to American Sugar Refining, a new company created in 1998 and unrelated to the prior firm by that name, and the Sugar Cane Growers Cooperative of Florida in a $180 million deal[16] that was closed on November 6, 2001.
Privately held American Sugar Refining is owned by the Florida Crystals Corporation company, part of FLO-SUN, a sugar empire of the Fanjul Brothers whose origins are traced to Spanish-Cuban sugar plantations of the early 19th century. American Sugar Refining also owns two of its former significant competitors, C&H Sugar (California and Hawaii), purchased in 2005, and Jack Frost (National Sugar Company).
Eichner, Alfred S. (1969). The Emergence of Oligopoly: Sugar Refining As a Case Study. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press.
Mullins, Jack Simpson (1964). The Sugar Trust : Henry O. Havemeyer and the American Sugar Refining Company (Ph.D.). University of South Carolina. OCLC4286441.