Records: Cincy offered Chiquita $6M loans to stay

Records released to a newspaper show Cincinnati offered Chiquita Brands International $6 million in loans to keep the banana giant from leaving town.

The Cincinnati Enquirer reports the documents it obtained Tuesday through a records request also show the city and the surrounding county were willing to forgive half the loans if certain conditions were met.

Chiquita also was offered a seat on the board of the region's primary airport so the company wouldn't move its headquarters and more than 300 jobs out of downtown Cincinnati.

But Chiquita announced in November that it was going to Charlotte, after a North Carolina panel approved an incentives deal worth more than $22 million. CEO Fernando Aguirre called Charlotte's package the "most compelling" by far.