OT _Albaugh Inc Completes sale

[CyDude16]

Tavern Cyclone.

Trailer park working at the local mcdonalds on the east side, or multi-million dollar house, with a company worth billions thats involved in a line of work that is heavily associated with iowa state..... hmm

[CyPride]

Trailer park working at the local mcdonalds on the east side, or multi-million dollar house, with a company worth billions thats involved in a line of work that is heavily associated with iowa state..... hmm

What tavern hawk has a new and refined meaning given the current hopes and dreams of cynation? from all i've ever read, seen, heard, etc., a large portion of our fanbase 'makes fun' (conservative description) of Iowa fan who is not a graduate of Iowa by blanket labelling of them with the term 'tavern hawk'.....

if the shoe fits, then it should be worn, no?!

[swiacy]

If you follow the Glyphosate "market", you are aware of Albaugh Inc's development of a major production facility in St. Joe, Mo and becoming a world player in that market. The Chinese subsequently overproduced and flooded the market with under cost of production product, causing Albaugh Inc to permanently close the production facility. This past Spring an open campaign was staged to attempt to place restrictions on Chinese imports through legislative efforts. Mr. Albaugh, obviously, is a successful businessman but I reserve judgement on the bottomline of this sale until all the details are known.

[everyyard]

Tavern Cyclone.

I don't think this applies. No one is calling Roy Carver a "tavern hawk." There is more to being a Tavern Hawk than not attending the UofI...IMHO.

[CyPride]

If you follow the Glyphosate "market", you are aware of Albaugh Inc's development of a major production facility in St. Joe, Mo and becoming a world player in that market. The Chinese subsequently overproduced and flooded the market with under cost of production product, causing Albaugh Inc to permanently close the production facility. This past Spring an open campaign was staged to attempt to place restrictions on Chinese imports through legislative efforts. Mr. Albaugh, obviously, is a successful businessman but I reserve judgement on the bottomline of this sale until all the details are known.

i thought what albaugh produced in argentina was originally a glyphosate product? i didn't read the article, so pardon me if that information is contained there.

[CyPride]

I don't think this applies. No one is calling Roy Carver a "tavern hawk." There is more to being a Tavern Hawk than not attending the UofI...IMHO.

like buying their merchandising, etc.

[swiacy]

The article spoke only of general fiancial terms of the sale. The closing of the St. Joe production facility was a huge negativity development for Albaugh Inc. this past year. An attempt was made, after the closure, to get the Federal Govt. to step in with tariffs or other legislative means to stop the Chinese from "dumping" glyphosate on the domestic market. The other player in the glyphosate market, Monsanto, declined to ask for closing the domestic market to the Chinese. Albaugh may have been squeezed out by Mother Monsanto who is a way bigger entity than Albaugh. And Albaugh may have read the writing on the wall, had a very good offer floated by them and decided to take the money and get out.

[CyPride]

The article spoke only of general fiancial terms of the sale. The closing of the St. Joe production facility was a huge negativity development for Albaugh Inc. this past year. An attempt was made, after the closure, to get the Federal Govt. to step in with tariffs or other legislative means to stop the Chinese from "dumping" glyphosate on the domestic market. The other player in the glyphosate market, Monsanto, declined to ask for closing the domestic market to the Chinese. Albaugh may have been squeezed out by Mother Monsanto who is a way bigger entity than Albaugh. And Albaugh may have read the writing on the wall, had a very good offer floated by them and decided to take the money and get out.

I think you are right on about that - this sale is a squeeze sale - heck, even Roundup's pricing is being slashed. I know it's the same thing, but would you rather buy roundup (branding) or generic if the pricing is reasonably the same?

I just didn't know he'd have to open a plant in St. Joe to be a 'world player'. Why not just expand what he already had in South America?

[everyyard]

like buying their merchandising, etc.

well, it is hard to explain but you definitely know a "Tavern Hawk" when you see one. Roy Carver is not one...plus he is dead. They are typically undereducated, fully decked out in UofI gear, found in local taverns on game day sloppy drunk for their "hawgeyez," and have often never attended a game much less a class at the UofI. Also, they often need to be reminded that the Iowa football team does in fact represent a SCHOOL. Are there Tavern Cyclones? Probably, but far less numerous. And Albaugh is most definitely not one based on above criteria. Would I take more, sure, but that doesn't mean I would respect them like I do an Alum or season ticket holding fan.

[swiacy]

I assume the reason he opened the St. Joe plant instead of importing product from a plant in Argentina was cost of freight or otherwords logistics. The Chinese were imossible to compete with due to the fact that RoundUp and the generic shot up in price a few years ago and Albaugh and the Chinese both got into the generic game at the expense of Monsanto. Then this past year the Chinese had way over expanded and "dumped" the generic version forcing Albaugh to shut down. He asked for help from our govt. and his competitor, Monsanto, and they both declined. And to answer your question, there are good generic products on the market other than Chinese. The Chinese crap probably is OK, if you use it above rate but their quality control isn't any better than the lead in their paint or formaldahyde in their milk!

[Cato2handjam]

Would you be in favor of the Govt stepping in and placing sanctions on Chinese imports SWIACY? Wouldn't farmers then say that the domestic pricing of chemicals is driving up their production costs relative to other nations and hurting their international competitiveness.

Chemicals of all agricultural and industrial varieties are flooding the markets as steel production and other raw material usage hit higher levels due to the consumption of China and India. The byproducts are being sold at zero margins or less just to get rid of it. This is killing Monsanto, Ecolab, JohnsonDiversy, and other branded chemical makers.

[Frak]

I think you are right on about that - this sale is a squeeze sale - heck, even Roundup's pricing is being slashed. I know it's the same thing, but would you rather buy roundup (branding) or generic if the pricing is reasonably the same?

I just didn't know he'd have to open a plant in St. Joe to be a 'world player'. Why not just expand what he already had in South America?

I think that you're right about it being a squeeze sale. BUT, it's still a huge chunk of money and Albaugh still has a fairly vast amount of real estate on the north side of Ankeny. Just from an outsider's view, he isn't hurting too bad no matter what happened to the glyphosate business.

I agree with others that he's earned the money and has every right to do what he wants with it. But it would be pretty cool if he used ISU as a tax write-off for this transaction. I think that if we've learned anything in the last few months, it's that ISU really, really needs it.

[CyPride]

I think that you're right about it being a squeeze sale. BUT, it's still a huge chunk of money and Albaugh still has a fairly vast amount of real estate on the north side of Ankeny. Just from an outsider's view, he isn't hurting too bad no matter what happened to the glyphosate business.

I agree with others that he's earned the money and has every right to do what he wants with it. But it would be pretty cool if he used ISU as a tax write-off for this transaction. I think that if we've learned anything in the last few months, it's that ISU really, really needs it.

what's the chance he owns the facilities free and clear and what is being reported as the sale price is the price he puts in his pocket? chance he's paying creditors on the sale too, before we all start counting chickens.

[bellzisu]

Would you be in favor of the Govt stepping in and placing sanctions on Chinese imports SWIACY? Wouldn't farmers then say that the domestic pricing of chemicals is driving up their production costs relative to other nations and hurting their international competitiveness.

Chemicals of all agricultural and industrial varieties are flooding the markets as steel production and other raw material usage hit higher levels due to the consumption of China and India. The byproducts are being sold at zero margins or less just to get rid of it. This is killing Monsanto, Ecolab, JohnsonDiversy, and other branded chemical makers.

Don't cry for Monsanto too much ok.... They only spend 1 million dollars a day on research (alot funded by Pioneer, due to some settlement). They bought up every independent corn company under the American Seeds Inc title and closed a big chunk of them. They also sell bags of corn for $250 a bag compared to a few years ago of $150 being top price. And I'm sure that $250 has gone up this last year.

I'm sure they are hurting for money in the Chemical business.... Considering Roundup is the most popular chemical on earth....

[swiacy]

Free trade is a great thing and an important part of our capitalistic economic system. So I support competition with no borders. But, imports should have the same kind of safety regulations in place during production that our domestic producers work under. In the near future, we may be eating a lot of our food that is processed outside of our borders-look at a jar of Dole fruit sometime, it may be grown in Peru and processed in China and sold under a good brand name. The Chinese govt. has little oversite, India is much better but not up to our standards either.

I believe I read where the Albaugh Inc. sale included something like $280 M debt as part of the deal. Still a huge profitable sale and apparently an opportunity to exit the business where they were competing with much larger entities.

When Coach Rhoads was hired, I wondered at the time if their was a connection betwen Albaugh-Ankeny-Rhoads. Just a thought. And do not interpret any of this as a bad thing for the Ath Dept. I just thought a little info about the sale might enlighten some of the CF browsers as to the implication, financially.