Lactalis Likely to Take Parmalat
The formal takeover of Parmalat is only set to be completed next week, but the company behind President camembert already holds a 29% stake -- enough to enable it to have nine candidates elected to the 11-person board.
The two other posts on the board would go to minority shareholders.
Lactalis and Parmalat, a firm based in Parma in northern Italy which has recovered from one of the biggest corporate bankruptcy scandals in Europe in 2003, would have a turnover of around 14 billion euros ($20 billion).
Parmalat's founder and former chief executive Calisto Tanzi is now in prison and the company employs 14,000 people -- less than half the number before the scandal -- but it retains a strong international network.
The Lactalis takeover would signal an end to the tenure of Enrico Bondi, the man who revived the group after its bankruptcy and who opposed the takeover.
The French firm's choice of director of Parmalat has not yet been announced but news reports say it could be Antonio Sala, head of Lactalis Italy.
Franco Tato, a former chief executive of Italian electricity giant Enel, is expected to become the new chairman of the Italian firm.
Nominations are to be confirmed at the first meeting of the board.
The Lactalis takeover comes after a months-long standoff characterized by Italian nationalist sentiment against the foreign takeover.
Lactalis announced in March that it held 11% of Parmalat and continued buying up shares. The move raised hackles in Italy, coming after the takeover of historic jeweler Bulgari by French luxury group LVMH.
The Italian government counter-attacked, authorizing Parmalat to delay a shareholder meeting that had initially been scheduled for April in order to allow a group of Italian companies to make a counter-offer.
Lactalis struck back by making a surprise announcement of a takeover bid on April 26, the same day that French President Nicolas Sarkozy visited Rome for a summit with Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi.
Parmalat rejected the Lactalis offer of 2.60 euros per share that valued the company at 4.5 billion euros but was below the 2.80 euros a share paid by Lactalis earlier this year while it was bolstering its stake.
The French company, which already has a debt mountain of 4.3 billion euros, has resisted any increase in the offer.
From the June 28, 2011, Prepared Foods' Daily News.
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