Sweet-O Deal Going Sour? ; Moberly on Hook If Firm Defaults

Beginning of article

A company that promised 600 jobs and drew Gov. Jay Nixon to Moberly to announce $17.6 million in state aid is in financial trouble and could potentially stick the city with payments on a $39 million bond deal.

Mamtek International Ltd., a company with Chinese and American ownership, planned to make sucralose, a zero-calorie sweetener at the facility. The $65 million deal, ballyhooed at the start by former Gov. Bob Holden, chairman of the Midwest U.S.-China Association, was put together in 73 days last year and was supposed to include $8 million in private investment.

Moberly issued $39 million in bonds to build the Mamtek factory, buy and install the equipment and …