Green light for Parmalat delisting. The Tar of Lazio rejected the precautionary request presented last March 5 by Citi which asked to block the farewell of Parmalat shares to Piazza Affari "subject to suspension of the effectiveness of the Consob resolution approving the information document relating to the fulfillment, by Sofil, of the obligation to purchase Parmalat shares , aimed at the delisting of the agri-food group from Piazza Affari".
After ordering the precautionary suspension of the operation, which should have led to the farewell to the Stock Exchange of the Collecchio company, the Lazio Regional Administrative Court decided to accept the arguments of Sofil's lawyers (Lactalis, the new owner of the Emilian company) and Consob, who considered that the effect of the resolutions which had authorized the minority shareholders to sell to Sofil had already been exhausted.
The judges of the Tar maintain that "it is not possible to detect with sufficient certainty the existence of the grounds of the appeal which constitute the prerequisite for the granting of precautionary protection". Furthermore, there are no requirements of "serious and irreparable damage" and "extreme gravity and urgency" to confirm the precautionary measure.
In this context it should be remembered that Citibank is pursuing a lawsuit against Parmalat to obtain compensation of 345 million from the latter, to be liquidated through the issue of new shares in favor of the US institute.
The matter dates back to 2003, the year of Parmalat's bankruptcy, after which a composition plan was signed which established that as long as there was someone claiming compensation due to the 13 billion bankruptcy, Parmalat would have to remain on the stock exchange to be able to compensate equity creditors.
Five years later, the Court of New Jersey decided that the new Parmalat should have compensated Citi for about 345 million to be liquidated, precisely on the basis of the arrangement, with Collecchio shares. The decision was then confirmed by the Court of Bologna in 2014. The French of Lactalis, the new owners of Parmalat, however, opposed the sentence, appealing to the Cassation which should pronounce itself in the coming months.
According to Citi, until the final ruling, Parmalat was owed on the stock exchange. The Lazio Regional Administrative Court, after accepting the American bank's appeal with an initial suspension, issued a new ordinance in which rejected the request to suspend Parmalat's delisting.
It should also be emphasized that on March 6 Sofil issued a press release announcing that "Borsa Italiana has delisted Parmalat shares from listing on the electronic stock market" as early as March 5, the date on which "the procedure for squeeze out with the consequent transfer to Sofil of the ownership of all Parmalat shares still outstanding". The Parmalat stock, in fact, is no longer present in the Milanese price list.
