The beginnings of a great dream

Spanish chroniclers of the conquest relate that Captain Martin Bazan Heredia was the first owner of the haciendas (estates) Casa Grande, Facalá and Mocollope. His heirs sold the land to German Luis Albrecht, who created Casa Grande Zuckerplantagen AG around 1860, a company that operated with a modern factory, and even issued its own currency for internal operations.

Burdened by a painful illness and by the economic crisis unleashed by the war with Chile, Albrecht auctioned his company on August 1, 1888, being acquired by compatriot Juan Gildemeister, who died in 1895. The company became managed by Enrique Gildemeister, experienced businessman, who acquired other estates to expand their agricultural frontier.

In 1915 the sugar industry experienced unprecedented world market prices boom due to the impact of the First World War. Don Enrique bought Malabrigo port, where overseas port operations were conducted. In 1927 he acquired the estate Rome, consolidating its territorial and economic supremacy in the Chicama Valley. Casa Grande thus became one of the most important agro-industrial empires of Peru.

With the military government reform in the seventies, Casa Grande complex was taken over by their workers whom associated in cooperatives and agricultural societies of social interest, with strong government presence in the board and amongst shareholders.

Before being taken over by the military government the hacienda Casa Grande owned large tracts of land: 107,717 acres in the coast and 75,086 acres in the mountains.

March 13, 1996, after failed attempts to change the cooperative model, the government enacted the DL 802, Financial and Economic Sanitation Law for Sugar Agribusiness Firms. On July 2, 1996, Casa Grande abides by this law and decides to change its social model, becoming a corporation. In March 1998, the transformation is completed, becoming a publicly traded company, allowing the entry of new investors.

After reducing its size to 30,000 acres, less than half of them cultivated, having large debts -mainly labor-, and constant social conflicts, the company was acquired by Grupo Gloria in late January 2006.