The crisis at Italian agri-food giant Parmalat, described by Economy Minister Giulio Tremonti as "Europe's Enron", sent shockwaves through Italian industry
Published:
21 December 2003 y., Sunday
"The situation is very serious," Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi said, announcing his government would intervene to try to salvage the agri-food giant "to restore confidence and the country's reputation".
The scandal, sparked by the discovery of a four billion-euro "hole" in its accounts, follows the recent spectacular collapse of another high-profile Italian food company, Cirio.
"The government will intervene above all to save the company and its industrial sector and to save the jobs...." Berlusconi told an end-of-year press conference in Rome.
He said Tremonti, whose "Enron" remark was reportedly made at a cabinet meeting which discussed the crisis on Friday, would submit rescue proposals to a cabinet meeting on Tuesday.
Parmalat, Italy's leading agri-food company with a workforce of more than 36,000 in 30 countries, was already struggling to cover estimated debts of 6.0 billion euros when the hole was discovered.
The Bank of America (BoA) disowned the authenticity of a document certifying that Parmalat's Cayman unit Bonlat Financing Corporation had 3.950 billion euros (4.9 billion dollars) of liquidity at December 31, 2002.
Analysts said Friday Parmalat was close to declaring bankruptcy after the discovery of the massive hole in the company's accounts. affected" by the crisis, Berlusconi said.
Šaltinis:
AFP
Copying, publishing, announcing any information from the News.lt portal without written permission of News.lt editorial office is prohibited.
The most popular articles
In Gothenburg Sweden a deal is done for Volvo. A delegation from China’s Zhejiang Geely Holding Group, China’s largest private-run car maker, was given the red carpet treatment when it agreed to buy Ford Motor’s Volvo car unit for 1.8 billion dollars.
more »
The President of the Spanish Government and current rotational President of the European Union, José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, affirmed this Sunday that during his presidency of the EU, Spain will continue to support the inclusion of the "complete affirmation of equality between men and women" within the new economic strategy.
more »
Despite the unfavorable macroeconomic situation, AS UniCredit Bank Lithuanian Branch achieved positive activity indicators in 2009: the bank branch operated profitably, the total loan portfolio and assets increased and the number of customers grew.
more »
Young people, economic recovery and research should be the EU's top budgetary priorities, said the European Parliament on Thursday, when it became the first EU institution to adopt an opinion on next year's budget.
more »
The sixteen leaders of the euro area countries (the Eurogroup) have given their support to the financial aid mechanism for Greece; this involves the participation of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and of the euro area countries through bilateral loans.
more »
Today, President of the European Commission José Manuel Barroso, President of the European Council Herman Van Rompuy and Spanish Prime Minister José Luis Rodriguez Zapatero representing the Presidency of the Council met the European social partners to look at how Europe can exit the current economic and financial crisis.
more »
Around 1,100 former furniture and textile workers in Lithuania will receive EU aid worth €1.2 million following a vote by Parliament on Thursday.
more »
An estimated 100 million people in developing countries will fall into extreme poverty because of the economic and financial crisis, according to a report being presented Wednesday evening in the House.
more »
The Heads of State or Government of the EU-27 will make their first formal decisions in the process to develop the “Europe 2020” strategy that aims to achieve sustainable economic growth, job creation as well as recognition for the European social model.
more »
On 16 March 2010 the Lithuanian Authority, Ryšių reguliavimo tarnyba (RRT), informed the European Commission that it was withdrawing its proposed measure on network infrastructure access markets.
more »