Punta Alegre Sugar Co.

The land then known as the "Realengo de San Juan de Nepomuceno" belonged ½ to Clara Font de Dalmau who had acquired it by inheritance.  In 1891, Heraclio Ochoa Echevarria acquired one fourth of the land owned by Clara Font de Dalmau and in 1909 acquired another one fourth from her heirs.  That is, Ochoa acquired one fourth in total or one half of the one half of the "Realengo de San Juan de Nepomuceno" owned by Clara Font de Dalmau which totaled  eight hundred ninety six caballerias or approximately one hundred seventy four thousand acres.  In 1913, Walter S. Maud acquired eight hundred forty three caballerias or approximately one hundred sixty three thousand acres from Ochoa and in 1915 Edwin F. Atkins under the name of Punta Alegre Sugar Co. acquired the land from Maud to build a sugar mill which construction began in October 1915.

In 1910, Robert Wrisley Atkins (1889-1948), the elder son of Edwin F. Atkins had joined E. Atkins & Co. after graduating from Harvard and in 1915 Edwin's second son, Edwin F. Atkins Jr. (1892-1923) also graduated from Harvard and joined the firm.  On August 13, 1915 the Punta Alegre Sugar Co. was incorporated in Delaware with a capital of $19,100,000 with Edwin F. Atkins as president and the expectation that a third generation of Atkins would take charge of the family sugar business.  However, this concept was derailed in 1923 when Edwin F. Atkins Jr. and two of his sons died in a plane crash off Key West, FL traveling from Key West to Havana.

At inception, although Edwin F. Atkins was its president, the everyday affairs of the Punta Alegre Sugar Co. were handled by Robert W. Atkins who benefited from the experience and advise of the Boston investment firm of Hayden, Stone & Co. and of Eugene Van Rensselaer Thayer Jr. (1881-1937) the president of Merchants National Bank of Boston who was in charge of the company's finances. In the company's Fourth Annual Report for the year ended May 31, 1919, the company owned three operating sugar mills; Central Punta San Juan (aka Punta Alegre), Central Trinidad and Central Florida which combined produced 605,150 m.t. of raw sugar that year.  Punta Alegre Sugar Co. had considerable growth between 1919 and 1925.  A 1925 Standard & Poor report for Punta Alegre Sugar Co. states that the companies subsidiary to or controlled by Punta Alegre Sugar Co. were at the time:

  • Cia. Azucarera Florida - Owner of Central Florida located in Camagüey Province was a 100% owned subsidiary incorporated February 25, 1915 in Cuba 

  • Cia. Azucarera Trinidad - Owners of Central Trinidad was 100% owned by Cia. Azucarera Florida, was incorporated December 6, 1920 in Cuba as the successor to Trinidad Sugar Co. of NJ which was liquidated

  • Cia. Belmonte - 100% owned subsidiary, incorporated May 13, 1919 in Cuba, owned sugarcane plantations, cattle ranches, retail stores and other businesses connected with raw sugar factories

  • Cia. Azucarera Baraguá - Owner of Central Baraguá located in Camagüey Province was incorporated July 22, 1922 in Cuba as successor to Baraguá Sugar Co. of Delaware

  • Cia. Azucarera Canasi - 100% owned subsidiary incorporated August 7, 1922 in Cuba

  • Cia. Azucarera Antilla - incorporated December 1921 to acquire Central Baguanos, in early 1924 acquired the assets and business of Tacajó Sugar Corp., also owns entire capital stock of Cia. Agricola Antilla S. A. 

César J. Ayala in his book American Sugar Kingdom lists the following subsidiary corporations controlled by the Punta Alegre Sugar Co. in 1925 and the sugar mills each one owned.

  • Antilla Sugar Co.

    • Central Báguanos - built in 1920 in the Oriente Province was acquired by Antilla Sugar Co. in 1924

    • Central Tacajó - built in 1918 in the Oriente Province was acquired by Antilla Sugar Co. in 1924

    • Central Presidente - located in the Oriente Province, acquired in 1925 by Antilla Sugar Co. from J. I. Lezama and soon thereafter dismantled

    • Central San Germán - located in the Oriente Provinceacquired in 1925 by Antilla Sugar Co., its capacity increased with machinery from Central Presidente

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  • Punta Alegre Sugar Co.

    • Central Baraguá - built in 1915 by a group of Pittsburgh investors, was acquired by Punta Alegre Sugar Co. from Baraguá Sugar Co. in July 1922 for $8.25 million

    • Central Florida - built in 1915 and acquired in 1916

    • Punta Alegre S. A. - Owner of Central Punta Alegre located at Punta San Juan in Camagüey Province was built in time for the 1916 grinding season, sold in 1951 to the Sucn. de Falla-Gutierrez 

    • Central Soledad - acquired by E. Atkins & Co. in 1884

    • Central Trinidad - located in Santa Clara province was established in 1892 and merged into Punta Alegre Sugar Co. in 1916​​

​​The company's September 30, 1929 Annual Report to Stockholders lists three sugar mills wholly owned by Punta Alegre Sugar Co.

  • Central Baraguá 

  • Central Punta Alegre

  • Central Florida

The report also show stocks held in Caibaren Transport Co. and Antilla Sugar Co. which as presented in the report indicates they were not majority owned or controlled by Punta Alegre Sugar Co.  The report also shows a participation in purchase and lease of lands and plant of Ceballos Sugar Co. ​​The eventual ownership of the above sugar companies is detailed by Antonio Santamaria Garcia in his book Sin Azúcar no Hay País.  He states the following ownerships in 1937;

During his years as president of the American Sugar Refining Co., Robert W. Atkins was president of Punta Alegre and a Director of the West India Management and Consultation Co.  In April 1926 Robert W. Atkins resigned to the presidency of Punta Alegre Sugar Co. and William C. Douglas representing the "Pittsburgh interests" became president. In June 1930, Financial difficulties caused by the Great Depression resulted in the Federal Court appointment of a receiver in equity for the Punta Alegre Sugar Co.  A 1931 reorganization resulted in the transfer of ownership of most of its sugar mills.  Central Báguanos and Central Tacajó were transfered to the newly organized Antilla Sugar Estates, a Cuban corporation subsidiary of Sugar Plantations Operating Co., in turn a subsidiary of The Royal Bank of Canada.  Antilla Sugar Estates continued operating the sugar mills until 1948 when Royal Bank sold them to Salustiano Garcia Diaz who owned them until nationalized in 1960. In its 18th Annual Report for the fiscal year ended September 30, 1950, The Punta Alegre Sugar Co. owned only three sugar mills; Punta Alegre, Baraguá and Florida.

On May 31, 1951 Punta Alegre Sugar Co. sold the Compañia Azucarera Punta Alegre S. A. which owned the sugar mill and certain assets of the Punta Alegre Industrial Corp. of NY, the subsidiary that ran the mill to the Sucn. de Falla Gutiérrez who operated it under it under the  name Compañía Azucarera Buenavista SA.  At the same time Punta Alegre Sugar Corp. acquired certain assets of the Caribbean Sugar Co. and its affiliate Compañia Agricola Yaguabo.  This transaction involved the acquisition of the Macareño mill and its related properties. 

In 1959 the Central Punta Alegre was nationalized by the Fidel Castro regime and renamed Central Máximo Gómez.  It operated until 2002 when the Cuban Government, under the reorganization program of the sugar industry called Tarea Alvaro Reynoso, shut it down.  It was later demolished and today only the chimneys remain.  When the Fidel Castro regime expropriated the properties of the Punta Alegre Sugar Co., the company had some $3.5 in securities and a tax loss carry forward of around $16-17 million.  The company continued to operate in the US diversifying its holdings.  In 1963 they entered the textile business by acquiring Crown Fabrics, which business they expanded in 1965 with the acquisition of Knitcrest Mills.  In 1964 it merged with the Bangor and Aroostock Railroad of Maine and the corporate name changed to Bangor Punta Corp. which operated until 1984 when it was sold to Lear Siegler, Inc.