Historic Italian confectionery company Melegatti was declared bankrupt by a Verona court on 29 May, resulting in the loss of 350 jobs.
This comes after US fund D.E. Shaw & C. presented a last-ditch plan to save the Verona-based company and invest €20 million. It did not bring the desired result and the judges accepted the bankruptcy petition presented by public prosecutor Alberto Sergi.
The judgment was not unexpected, as the confectionery company was not able to present a contingency plan by the set date of 7 May.
Salvage Attempt
The salvage attempt of the US fund came after a succession of other collaborations (including those of Maltese fund Abalone Asset Management Ltd. and Italian coffee company Hausbrandt) which failed after the potential investors failed to reach an agreement with the shareholders.
The confectionery company has been experiencing difficulties for years, but the situation escalated just before Christmas. The Abalone-funded production of more than 1.5 million pandoro cakes and an online campaign failed to drive sales. All production activity stopped in January.
Melegatti was founded by confectioner Domenico Melegatti in 1894, and is famous for inventing the pandoro Christmas cake.
© 2018 European Supermarket Magazine – your source for the latest retail news. Article by Branislav Pekic. Click subscribe to sign up to ESM: The European Supermarket Magazine
