Grace McAlister
Reporter1@riverbendnews.org
On Thursday, Dec. 8, Klausner Holding USA filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy, pausing a lawsuit the Florida Department of Economic Opportunity (DEO) filed against the company.
In October of 2021, the DEO filed a lawsuit seeking to recoup $3 million in incentives provided to Klausner Holding USA, Inc., declaring the company violated the terms of the agreement. As part of the agreement for the state incentive, which was amended four times, Klausner had to create 350 jobs, maintain an average annual wage of $30,000 excluding benefits and invest at least $150 million into the sawmill. DEO claims in the lawsuit that Klausner failed to follow the compliance requirements in the deal to ensure that the job creation and investment thresholds were met. The company, according to the lawsuit, did not provide satisfactory evidence of its capital investment requirements for 2016, 2017, 2018 or 2019.
According to the Suwannee County Economic Development Office, Klausner was one of the county’s top employers with 250 workers; however, it fell short of the 350 jobs expected to be created.
In 2011, former Governor Rick Scott approved the use of $3 million from DEO’s Quick Action Closing Fund program to incentivize the Austrian company. Klausner, according to the lawsuit, said without the funds, it wouldn’t choose the Florida site. Suwannee County also deeded the 155-acre property for the sawmill to the company for one dollar in August 2013. The county previously purchased the land for nearly $1 million.
The DEO sanctioned Klausner $1,082,322.08 on June 17, 2020, for failure to meet the 2016 capital investment requirements and never heard back. An additional sanction of $1,086,606.90 was placed on the company in July 2020 for not meeting its 2017 obligation. According to the court docket, the company again never answered or paid the demand. In September 2020, Klausner was hit with an additional sanction of $889,930.30 for failing to provide 2018 performance information, and again, the company never responded. The lawsuit states DEO sent Klausner and Klausner Trading International GmbH a final demand letter in January 2021 for the full repayment of Quick Action Closing Fund (QACF) award, plus interest, of $3,052,859.28. The company did not acknowledge the letter, according to the lawsuit.
“Because of Klausner’s nonperformance, the DEO has not received the expected return on investment and the expected economic benefit,” the court docket states.
Klausner Lumber One filed for bankruptcy in April 2020 after shutting down operations six weeks prior. For over five years, while Klausner operated the mill, it routinely experienced temporary shutdowns and layoffs before resuming work.
Binderholz, another Austrian company, purchased the sawmill during a bankruptcy auction in August 2020 and began operations last year. Binderholz also purchased the Klausner Lumber Two mill in North Carolina during the bankruptcy proceedings.
According to information provided for Suwannee County’s commission meeting on Tuesday, Dec. 6, Binderholz is working on an expansion of its log line at the sawmill, which is expected to create approximately 125 new jobs.