MFA Oil to buy deserted Mamtek site in Moberly

MFA Oil Co. is working to buy the 33-acre site in Moberly where Mamtek U.S. Inc. planned a sucralose factor, according to the Columbia Daily Tribune.

The oil company announced Tuesday it has a contract to purchase the land owned by UMB Bank and the half-constructed buildings left in the wake of Mamtek’s 2011 bankruptcy. The company defaulted on bonds for the sucralose plant.

MFA officials said the bankruptcy court had approved the sale, but the company has not yet closed on the property, the Daily Tribune said. A purchase price for the land wasn’t yet available from bankruptcy court filings, and MFA Oil spokesman Tom May declined to release a sale price to the Tribune. May told the paper MFA does not yet have specific plans for the property.

Mamtek and its CEO, Bruce Cole, had planned to develop the artificial sweetener factory and employ 600, promises that led Gov. Jay Nixon to offer state tax credits and job creation incentives. Also, Moberly issued $39 million in industrial revenue bonds to finance construction, but when Mamtek missed a bond payment in August 2011, the city was on the hook.

According to the newspaper, Moberly let the bonds default and saw its credit rating downgraded, while bondholders have been unable to recover much of their initial investment and Cole is facing criminal charges for diverting some of the bond funds for personal use.

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