Fontana, Again

When Henry J. Kaiser built his Fontana steel mill in 1942 (on a hog farm in California's San Bernardino County) he borrowed $111.8 million from the Reconstruction Finance Corp. Of this sum he spent $94 million to build the plant, held the balance for working capital.

Last week Henry Kaiser yelped with pain when the RFC decided to put the loan on a businesslike basis. RFC's revamped terms were: 1) a 15-year 4% first mortgage of $69.5 million ($58 million for the marked-down value of the property, plus '$11.5 million which RFC offered to lend Kaiser for additions to Fontana);...

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