Parmalat

Parmalat S.p.A.

Company type	Società per azioni
Industry	Food processing
Founded	1961; 63 years ago (1961)
Founder	Calisto Tanzi
Headquarters	Collecchio, Italy
Key people	Jean-Marc Bernier (CEO)[1]
Products	Milk and dairy products, fruit juice, tea
Revenue	€6.416 billion (2015)[2]
Operating income	€276.9 million (2015)[2]
Net income	€145.8 million (2015)[2]
Number of employees	27,596 (end 2015)[2]
Parent	Lactalis
Website	parmalat.it

Parmalat S.p.A. is an Italian dairy and food corporation which is a subsidiary of French multinational company Lactalis. It was founded by Calisto Tanzi in 1961.

Having become the leading global company in the production of long-life milk using ultra-high-temperature processing, the company collapsed in 2003 with a €14bn ($20bn; £13bn) hole in its accounts in what remains Europe's biggest bankruptcy.^[3] Since 2011, it has been a subsidiary of French group Lactalis (with fuller control since 2019). Today, Parmalat is a company with a global presence, having operations in Europe, North America, South 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 sells fruit juices distributed under the brand names Lactis, Santal, Malù, and Kyr. Its worldwide operations include almost 140 production centres and some 16,000 employees, with 5,000 Italian dairy farms supplying it. Its shares were listed on the Borsa Italiana.