Administrators lose Eurofood battle

THE administrators of Parmalat, the huge Italian food company that collapsed in 2003, have lost their case to oversee the liquidation of the company’s Irish subsidiary, Eurofood.

The European Court of Justice (ECJ) ruled yesterday that the country in which a firm is located has jurisdiction in insolvency proceedings, even if the controlling company is based in another EU country.

This gives the Irish courts and the provisional liquidator, Pearse Farrell, power to wind up Eurofood. The Italian administrators and courts had refused to cooperate with him on the basis that Parmalat was an Italian company.