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Imperial Sugar is a major U.S. sugar producer and marketer based in Sugar Land, Texas, with sugar refinery operations in California, Georgia, and Louisiana. The company was established in 1843 and has undergone ownership changes multiple times. The current name, Imperial Sugar Company, was established after a change in ownership in 1907. The company went through major expansion through acquisitions beginning in 1988, but filed for bankruptcy in 2001, emerging in the same year and embarking on a downsizing strategy. , the company was in the process of being purchased once more and converted from a public to a private company by Louis Dreyfus Group of the Netherlands. ==History== The company has, since its inception, been headquartered in Sugar Land; the city itself is named for the company and the company's crown logo is featured in the city's seal. The company was founded in 1843 by Samuel May Williams and passed through a series of owners until its purchase in 1907 the I. H. Kempner family of Galveston. The company was later renamed the Imperial Sugar Company, in an effort to emphasize quality. Up until 1988 the company had only one plant, at its original location in Texas, when they purchased the Holly Sugar Corporation, a sugar beet processor headquartered in Colorado Springs. Since that initial acquisition the company has made several more which effectively doubled the corporation's size each time. On , the company filed Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, attributing its problems to lower sales for refined sugar as well as higher energy costs. Then on August 29, 2001, the company emerged from Chapter 11 and has since turned its focus inward as it downsizes its operations. In 2003, Imperial won the Wharton Infosys Business Transformation Award for their innovative use of web technology to help turn around their business. The company no longer refines sugar at its original plant in Sugar Land (the facility was closed in 2003) but their corporate headquarters are still located in its founding city. On , two buildings of the Sugar Land factory were demolished by explosion demolition to spread the development of the property for residences, business properties and park land.〔(Houston Chronicle )〕〔(Fort Bend Star ) Plans for development.〕 In 2010, Imperial contributed its aging nineteenth-century Gramercy, Louisiana refinery to Louisiana Sugar Refiners, LLC (LSR) in exchange for a one-third interest in the new company.〔(Louisiana Sugar Refining facility touted as 'an important project for the state' ). ''Times-Picayune'', Wednesday, February 3, 2010.〕 LSR commenced operations on . LSR now operates a state-of-the-art sugar refinery on the Gramercy, Louisiana site. Imperial will continue to operate a small-bag processing facility at Gramercy.〔(Louisiana Sugar Refiners, LLC ).〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Imperial Sugar」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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