The French period (1794–1815) was extremely tough for the Dutch sugar industry, which at times completely cut off from its resources.

That same year, the introduction of the Cultivation System in the Dutch East Indies also led to a sharp increase of sugar production on Java.

The cost of the machinery was such that a company had to process 1000-3000 tons of raw sugar to make a profit with use this new method.

The fact that Rupe's single boiler replaced 13 fires gives an idea of the impact of these installations.

[7] Already in 1836, the favorable trading conditions with the Dutch East Indies, and the investments in production facilities, allowed the big Amsterdam sugar refineries to export to the United Kingdom.

These were probably instrumental in allowing De Bruyn to construct a big modern refinery on Bolwerk (Bastion) Osdorp in 1843, which became operational in 1846.

In parallel, De Bruyn founded a company to produce coal gas, the Hollandsche Gaz Fabriek.

However, as a monopoly it refused to give a discount to big customers, so the Amsterdam sugar refineries supported De Bruyn's foundation of a competitor that started to operate in August 1847.

On 6 December 1847 De Bruyn en Zonen therefore asked the Amsterdam court for an automatic stay so that the company could be reorganized.

[10] In early 1848, the receivers of De Bruyn en Zonen concluded that a liquidation of the company by selling its assets, would lead to very high losses for its creditors.

[11] The most probable reason would be that its specialized buildings and machinery and its sugar in stock, could not be sold for the price at which they were on the balance sheet.

Furthermore, the NTS had secured its credit by a mortgage on De Bruyn's two big refineries, so the prospects for the other creditors were worse than the balance sheet alone suggested.

In July 1848, the receivers of De Bruyn en Zonen proposed to the creditors to convert the sugar refineries and the gas factory into two public limited companies.

This would allow the creditors of the refineries to get shares of the same nominal value as the money that they were owned, while still giving the new company a working capital of ƒ900,000.

On 15 October 1849, the Dutch government approved a first version of the provisional contract to found the naamloze vennootschap (NV) Nederlandsche Suikerraffinaderij (NSR).

[24] This would become the Commanditaire Sociëteit voor Landbouw en Industrie onder firma De Bruyn, which founded the first successful beet sugar factory of the Netherlands in Zevenbergen.

[26] This first period of business by NSR ended with the May 1858 shareholders meeting accepting the significant losses by deprecating the nominal value of shares from ƒ1,000 to ƒ350.

[28] In 1862, NSR processed 17,000 tons of raw sugar and had 11 steam engines and 8 boilers with a total of 85 hp.

[43] In the early 1870s, major changes in market conditions caused a crisis in the Dutch sugar refining industry.

The opening of the Suez Canal had brought the important Mediterranean customers much closer to the East Indies.

The protectionist export tariff Diferentieel regt which supported shipping to a Dutch harbor, was abolished on 1 January 1874.

[46] In 1874, the competitor Amsterdamsche Stoom Suikerraffinaderij was liquidated after her main refinery had burnt down, and the shareholders did not see enough prospects to rebuild it.

[52] A commission of inquiry was formed to investigate: the 1876 balance sheet, business since 1 January 1877, and the probable causes of the losses.

[53] On 23 May 1877 the report of the inquiry was presented in a shareholders meeting, which then refused to approve the balance sheet over 1876 and decided to declare bankruptcy.

[56] The inquiry of the commission summarized its work on the balance of 1876 by stating that assets were ƒ302,550 less than reported, leading to a total loss of ƒ758,000 on 31 December 1876.

At the time, article 47 of the Wetboek van Koophandel stated that as soon as 75% of the share capital (i.e. of ƒ980,000) of a limited company was lost, it was legally disbanded.

[60] It furthermore noted that the price that a sugar refiner intended on proceeding with the business paid at an auction was a good valuation.

[62] As an alternative, Levy suggested to look at the German commercial law, which made explicit that buildings had to be regularly deprecated for wear and tear, but not more.

[63] The German court also noted that on the balance, buildings had to be valued for their use in a continuing business, and possible liquidation should not play a role.

[64] On 20 December 1877, the firma Deichmann & Vom Rath bought the buildings and machinery of the NSR for ƒ245,000 and announced they would found a limited company for refining sugar.