Johannesburg, April 17 - Africa's biggest cane sugar producer Illovo Sugar Limited said on Thursday it had taken back possession of its Umfolozi sugar mill from Umvoti Transport due to problems with paying for the purchase.
Umvoti Transport bought the mill in March 2005, Illovo spokesman Chris Fitz-Gerald said. The purchase price was not disclosed, he said.
"It's fairly well known in the sense that there were problems related to the non-payment of the purchase price," Fitz-Gerald said.
Illovo, the South African unit of Associated British Foods, said it would be responsible for operating the mill in the forthcoming sugar season, but it was in talks on future long-term ownership arrangements.
Fitz-Gerald would not say who these talks were with or how advanced they were.
Illovo said the repossession would not have a significant effect on its net assets and non-tangible assets per share, and its headline earnings and earnings per share, it said.
Its share price was up 0.9 percent at 34.30 rand at 1315 GMT.