By Diane Bartz and Jonathan Stempel
July 13 (Reuters) – A federal appeals court on Thursday refused to undo U.S.Sugar’s $315 million purchase of Imperial Sugar, rejecting the U.S. government’s claim that the merger would violate antitrust law and boost prices for consumers and businesses.
The 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Philadelphia let stand a trial judge’s findings that the Department of Justice overlooked the ability of distributors to keep prices of refined sugar from getting too high, domino4d link alternatif including by releasing their own supplies or selling to buyers around the country.
Writing for a three-judge panel, Circuit Judge David Porter also said the trial judge had discretion to find that the Justice Department failed to properly identify which markets would be harmed by the merger, which closed last November.
The Justice Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
U.S.Sugar agreed in March 2021 to buy Imperial Sugar from commodities trader Louis Dreyfus Co, which had paid $78 million for the company nine years earlier.
The Justice Department sued eight months later, saying the merger would cause higher prices for shoppers as well as food and beverage makers in the U.S.Southeast.
It also said the merger would consolidate an “already cozy sugar industry” because just two companies–U.S. Sugar and American Sugar Refining, which sells under the Domino brand–would control 75% of refined sugar sales in the Southeast.
U.S.Sugar operates a refinery in Clewiston, Florida, about halfway between Fort Myers and West Palm Beach, that produces 850,000 tons of refined cane sugar a year, court papers show.
Imperial Sugar’s refinery in Port Wentworth, Georgia, a Savannah suburb, is about 450 miles (724 km) to the north.
U.S.Sugar welcomed the decision. “Bringing the Savannah refinery, its sugar brands and facilities back into American ownership is good for our employees, our local communities, our customers and our country,” it said.
Thursday’s decision upheld a ruling last September by U.S.District Judge Maryellen Noreika in Delaware.
The case is U.S. v. U.S. Sugar Corp et al, 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, No. 22-2806. (Reporting by Diane Bartz in Washington, D.C. and Jonathan Stempel in New York. Editing by Jane Merriman and Josie Kao)