A Tennessee-based farming company Thursday announced a hostile bid to buy out U.S. Sugar Corp., potentially throwing an enormous wrench into the state's plans to purchase the sugar giant's farming empire to save the Everglades.

The Lawrence Group, which made two previous offers to purchase Clewiston-based U.S. Sugar, said it has offered to buy the company for $300 per share.

That offer would come to about $588 million -- significantly less than the $1.34 billion that state leaders have suggested paying for U.S. Sugar's 181,000 acres.

But The Lawrence Group argued that its offer would be a better deal for U.S. Sugar's shareholders, giving them a guaranteed price without any of the long-term uncertainties involved in the proposed deal with the state. The private bidder said it is appealing to the shareholders directly.

The Lawrence Group, led by Gaylon Lawrence Sr. and son Gaylon Lawrence Jr., is a Nashville firm that is one of the nation's largest owners of farmland.

'This deal is a `win-win' for everyone, including the environment, the South Florida Water Management District, shareholders, employees, surrounding communities and citizens of Florida,'' Gaylon Lawrence Jr. said in a statement.

The private buyout offer comes just weeks before Gov. Charlie Crist's water managers may be about to vote on a contract with U.S. Sugar. But it also arrives at a moment when the state's deal is facing considerable flux: For example, water managers aren't sure how much of the land they would actually need to restore the Everglades.

Meanwhile, a recently released analysis by a New York-based financial expert suggests the state's price may be $400 million too high. And U.S. Sugar executives have announced a venture to build one of the world's largest ethanol plants in Clewiston, even after selling all its farmland to the state.

Water managers have said that after the land purchase closes, they would lease back the acreage to U.S. Sugar for six years or more, allowing the company to continue farming while the state gears up its restoration plans. The $1.34 billion proposal would also leave U.S. Sugar with its mill, refinery, rail lines and other industrial infrastructure.

The Lawrences said in a memo to employees dated Nov. 11, U.S. Sugar management claimed its most recent offer to the water district would provide shareholders with as much as $365 per share by 2016.

But in reality, the Lawrence Group argued, the state's plan would lock U.S. Sugar's shareholders in for eight years, without the ability to sell their shares. And it would give no assurances as to what those shares will be worth once the land is transferred to the state, the Lawrences said.

The Lawrences said their acquisition proposal, on the other hand, offers shareholders $300 per share, guaranteed. They said it also assures the employees and surrounding communities that U.S. Sugar will continue operating for years to come, preserving jobs and stabilizing home values.

''Our offer is far superior to the one management of U.S. Sugar is trying to sell to the state -- on several fronts,'' the Lawrences said in a statement. ``U.S. Sugar shareholders will receive $300 cash for their shares at closing, which if invested in investment grade corporate bonds, would yield more than $500 by the end of 2016 -- without uncertainty.''

Previously, the Lawrences made bids of $293 per share to buy U.S. Sugar, once in 2005 and again in 2007, but those offers were both rejected by the board of directors.

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