bit plt industry food processing founded 1961 founder calisto tanzi headquarters collecchio italy key people francesco tat chairman yvon philippe guerin ceo products milk and dairy products fruit juice tea revenue 6.416 billion 2015 1 operating income 276.9 million 2015 1 profit 145.8 million 2015 1 number of employees 27 596 end 2015 1 parent lactalis website www.parmalat.com parmalat spa is a multinational italian dairy and food corporation . having become the leading global company in the production of long life milk using the ultra high temperature uht process the company collapsed in 2003 with a 14 billion 20bn ; 13bn hole in its accounts in what remains europe s biggest bankruptcy . 2 since 2011 it is a subsidiary of french group lactalis . today parmalat is a company with a global presence having operations in europe america australia china and south africa . still specializing in uht milk and milk derivatives varieties of yogurt cheese butter ice cream etc. the group also has an interest in fruit juices . these products are distributed under brand names such as lactis santal mal and kyr . its worldwide operations include almost 140 production centres and some 16 000 employees while 5 000 italian dairy farms are dependent on the company for the bulk of their business . its shares are listed on the borsa italiana . contents 1 early history 1961 2002 1.1 parmalat in formula one 2 financial fraud 2002 2005 3 countries of operation 3.1 countries of direct presence 3.2 countries of presence through license 4 see also 5 references 6 external links early history 1961 2002 edit in 1961 calisto tanzi a 22 year old college dropout opened a small pasteurisation plant in parma . two decades later the company had grown into a multinational corporation diversifying into milk dairy beverage bakery and other product lines in the 1980s becoming listed on the milan stock exchange in 1990 and expanding further in the 1990s . by 22 april 2002 parmalat s share price had reached a record and the company was valued at 3.7 bn employing over 30 000 people in 30 countries . the company began to expand and had listed in its portfolio amongst other things an expansion in the space of a decade from six countries into ownership of parmatour a travel group and odeon tv parma f.c. paulista futebol clube and s.e. palmeiras and sponsorship of s.l. benfica boca juniors c.a. pe arol and brazilian formula one racing driver pedro diniz . parmalat in formula one edit pedro diniz driving for forti in 1995 parmalat s name was notable outside italy in formula one . its name was emblazoned on the cap of niki lauda which he always wore following his 1976 german grand prix accident . the brabham formula one team was sponsored by parmalat through some of its most successful years in the late 1970s and early 1980s . owned by bernie ecclestone the brabham team and nelson piquet won two world drivers championships while sponsored by parmalat . it also sponsored pedro diniz throughout his formula one career ; its logo appeared on forti arrows ligier and sauber cars from 1995 to 2000 and also on the prost team s cars when diniz bought a stake in the team in 2001 . financial fraud 2002 2005 edit see also parmalat bankruptcy timeline in 1997 parmalat jumped into the world of financial markets in a big way financing several international acquisitions especially in the western hemisphere with debt . but by 2001 many of the new divisions were producing losses and the company financing shifted largely to the use of derivatives apparently at least in part with the intention of hiding the extent of its losses and debt . in february 2003 chief financial officer fausto tonna unexpectedly announced a new 300 million bond issue . this came as a surprise both to the markets and to the ceo calisto tanzi . tanzi forced tonna to resign and replaced him with alberto ferraris . according to an interview he later gave time magazine ferraris was surprised to discover that though now cfo he still did not have access to some of the corporate books which were being handled by chief accounting officer luciano del soldato . he began making some inquiries and began to suspect that the company s total debt was more than double that on the balance sheet . 3 the plan for a 300 million fundraising effort was dropped in september 2003 and the company s shares depreciated significantly as a result of the publicised concerns raised over transactions with mutual fund epicurum a cayman based company linked to parmalat by november . ferraris resigned less than a week after the public fall out and was replaced by del soldato . del soldato resigned the next month unable to get cash from epicurum fund needed to pay debts and make bond payments totalling at least 150 million . enrico bondi was called in to help the company as it went into administration while tanzi himself resigned as chairman and ceo . bonlat was a subsidiary of parmalat set up in the cayman islands . bonlat s bank bank of america then released a document showing 3.95 billion in parmalat s bank account as a forgery . prime minister silvio berlusconi initiated a fraud investigation and appointed bondi to administer the company s rescue . hundreds of thousands of investors lost their money and would never recover it . the company officially went bankrupt though the italian government used the legal mean commissariamento to save the trademark . citation needed calisto tanzi once a symbol of unlimited success was detained hours after the firm was declared officially insolvent in late december and admitted that there was a hole of 8 billion in parmalat s accounts but denied any cover up . the arrest of five other executives followed . the auditors of the administration eventually determined that the debts amounted to 14.3 billion which was almost eight times the sum originally stated . several of the company s subsidiaries subsequently went insolvent including its brazilian argentinian and american operations and its football club in parma . parmalat who then sued several multinational banks for huge sums clarification needed of money . citation needed tanzi was eventually charged with financial fraud and money laundering . italians who were shocked that such a vast and established empire could crumble so quickly . among the questionable accounting practices used by parmalat it sold itself credit linked notes in effect placing a bet on its own credit worthiness to conjure up an asset out of thin air . after his arrest tanzi reportedly admitted during questioning at milan s san vittore prison that he diverted funds from parmalat into parmatour and elsewhere . the family football and tourism enterprises were financial disasters as well as tanzi s attempt to rival berlusconi by buying odeon tv only to sell it at a loss of about 45 million . tanzi was sentenced to 10 years in prison for fraud relating to the collapse of the dairy group . the other seven defendants including executives and bankers were acquitted . another eight defendants settled out of court in september 2008 . 2 in september 2009 three lawsuits by parmalat capital finance ltd. and enrico bondi ceo of parmalat against bank of america and auditors grant thornton were dismissed . 4 countries of operation edit parmalat in the world in blue direct presence in green presence under license countries of direct presence edit italy russia portugal romania australia bolivia botswana brazil canada colombia cuba ecuador mexico mozambique new zealand paraguay peru south africa swaziland united states of america uruguay venezuela zambia countries of presence through license edit chile china costa rica dominican republic el salvador guatemala haiti honduras hungary mexico nicaragua united states of america uruguay see also edit companies portal list of italian companies gianmario roveraro references edit a b c d annual report 2015 pdf . parmalat . retrieved 27 april 2016 . a b italian dairy boss gets 10 years . bbc news . 2008 12 18 . retrieved 2013 12 29 . gumbel peter 2004 11 21 . how it all went so sour . time . subscription required help . bloomberg s morning report on trials and other litigation news . 21 september 2009 . retrieved 2009 11 16 . external links edit wikimedia commons has media related to parmalat . official website bbc parmalat in bankruptcy protection 24 december 2003 parmalat dream goes sour ; the observer ; 4 january 2004 there is something about parmalat on directors and gatekeepers ; simone di castri and francesco benedetto on ssrn.com . v t e italian cheeses pdo asiago bitto bra caciocavallo casciotta d urbino castelmagno fontina formaggio di fossa formai de mut dell alta valle brembana gorgonzola grana padano montasio monte veronese buffalo mozzarella parmigiano reggiano pecorino pecorino di filiano pecorino romano pecorino sardo pecorino siciliano pecorino toscano piave provolone spressa delle giudicarie ragusano raschera taleggio valle d aosta fromadzo valtellina casera pat bastardo del grappa bella lodi mascarpone robiola d alba scamorza toma cheese toma piemontese non protected varieties bel paese bocconcini br s burrata cacio figurato caciotta caprino casu marzu crucolo dolcelatte galbanino morlacco mozzarella paddraccio pallone di gravina ricotta robiola rosa camuna sottocenere al tartufo stracchino stracciatella di bufala manufacturers auricchio parmalat sterilgarda retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title parmalat & oldid 741153073 categories companies listed on the borsa italianaparmalathidden categories pages containing links to subscription only contentuse dmy dates from august 2013all articles with unsourced statementsarticles with unsourced statements from december 2010all articles with specifically marked weasel worded phrasesarticles with specifically marked weasel worded phrases from august 2014wikipedia articles needing clarification from september 2016articles with specifically marked weasel worded 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