, Columnist
Big Cheese Meets Big Stink
Minority shareholders are resisting Lactalis's buyout. They have a point.
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France's king of milk wants to gobble up the last remains of Parmalat, the Italian dairy giant that collapsed amid an accounting scandal more than a decade ago.
The snag for French billionaire Emmanuel Besnier is that Parmalat SpA's minority shareholders reckon they can force his Groupe Lactalis SA to offer a better price. It's a high-stakes gamble -- but they may have the edge.