Processing and packaging business round-up
Parmalat, a new name for UCB Films and more titles for Pilgrim's
Pride president.
Fausto Tonna, the former chief financial officer of Parmalat, has said that the scandal-ridden company's founder Calisto Tanzi would only shrug when warned that the dairy giant's finances were in trouble.
Speaking to Milan daily Corriere della Sera last week, Tonna said that Tanzi was "above all" at fault when the multinational juice and dairy company was brought to the brink of collapse by a fraud scandal.
The legal battle surrounding Parmalat has intensified in recent days. According to the Financial Times yesterday, ongoing talks aiming at a settlement between the government-appointment administrator Enricco Bondi and the Bank of America have stalled. Bondi could file a suit against the bank in a matter of weeks.
The fraud case, one of Europe's biggest business scandals, broke last December after the company finally acknowledged not having billions of dollar it had claimed was in a Bank of America account. A judge decides next week whether to put on trial executives, bankers and auditors of the dairy group plus three financial institutions.
Food giant General Mills announced yesterday that it will sell $835 million in preferred shares to an affiliate of investment bank Lehman Bros. to fund as the food giant moves to buy back stock from Diageo.
General Mills wants to use all or part of the proceeds to buy 16.5 million shares back from Diageo. Diageo, which intends to sell 33.4 million shares in a secondary offering, received 79 million General Mills shares when it sold its Pillsbury operations in 2001.
US meat giant Cargill has reached an agreement to acquire a majority share of Seara Alimentos, a major Brazilian branded poultry and pork processor. Cargill proposes to acquire a majority interest in Seara from Bevrexas, a Dutch subsidiary of Mutual Investment Limited.
Cargill intends to tender for the remainder Cargill intends to tender for the remainder of Seara`s shares by way of a public offer in Brazil. The transaction is subject to approval by regulatory authorities.
PepsiCo has announced the closure of four Frito-Lay factories by the end of the year in a bid to streamline production. The snacks and soft-drink manufacturer said about 250 of the 780 jobs to be lost will be added to other Frito-Lay sites.
Pepsi reported net income of $1.36 billion, for the third quarter ended 4 September, up from $1.01 billion in the same quarter last year.
Ahlstrom, a leader in high performance fibre solutions, announced yesterday the divestments of its two remaining flexible packaging units.
The first, Tecno Jolly, has been sold to the Italian flexible packaging company Sacchital. The net sales of the divested entity amounted to €17 million in 2003.
The second unit, Russia-based ZAO Akerlund & Rausing Kuban, has been sold to Kuban, which is owned by the private investment company Ahlström Capital Oy. The divested entity had net sales of €13 million in 2003. These deals complete Ahlstrom's exit from the flexible packaging business.
Innovia Films has been selected as the new name for the former films business of the UCB Group. The €320 million acquisition of the company by a consortium led by the former managing director of Hays Chemical Distribution, Dennis Matthewman and Candover Partners has now been officially completed.
Previously called UCB Films, the company is a major global producer of speciality Biaxially Oriented Polypropylene (BOPP) and cellulose films with production sites in the UK, USA, Belgium and Australia.
And finally, US meat processor Pilgrim's Pride has given O.B. Goolsby Jr. the title of chief executive, in addition to his current titles of president and chief operating officer. The position has been vacant since chief executive David Van Hoose retired in 2002.
Goolsby, 57, has been president and chief operating officer of the Pittsburgh-based poultry company since 2002. Pilgrim's Pride had revenue of $2.62 billion for the year ended 27 September 2003.
