Parmalat said on Friday it planned to slash its workforce by nearly half as it sells or liquidates operations in 20 different countries to try and stem the deep losses which drove it into insolvency.
At a first meeting with international creditors, the scandal-hit Italian dairy group said it was in talks with a bidder for its U.S. unit and also planned to sell operations in Mexico, much of Latin America and Asia.
Parmalat's worldwide workforce would plunge to less than 17,000 from 32,000 after sales and liquidations around its 30-nation empire -- once a point of pride at one of Italy's most international companies.
With many of the people who built Parmalat into Italy's eighth biggest industrial group in jail for a huge accounting scandal, its new head Enrico Bondi will chop the company down to concentrate on Italy, Europe, Canada and Australia.
Part of the turnaround would require creditors to swap part of Parmalat's 14.5 billion euros of debt into equity.
Court-appointed administrator Bondi asked about 30 banks and 20 bondholders to convert their debt without distinction between creditor classes, said Carlo Chileri, head of consumer group Adoc, who was at Friday's meeting.
Bondi also said he hoped a working group representing all creditors could be created. Many creditors had complained they had not been consulted on Parmalat's plan, as is possible under U.S. bankruptcy law.
"A foreign bank invited the Italian banks to speak their minds and take a common position," a source close to Bondi said. "To that end, Bondi said he hoped to create a working group."
Bondi told the creditors his restructuring plan -- including the asset sales and debt-for-equity swap -- would likely kick into gear in August or September, later than a hoped-for June start, according to Chileri.
Chileri also quoted Bondi as appealing to banks to help pull Parmalat out of its crisis. Some banks have been unwilling to loan more money, nervous that Parmalat's turnaround strategy could involve legal action against them.
Parmalat said it had not yet tapped any of a 105 million euro credit line extended by a group of Italian banks this year. But it would eventually need new financing to strengthen the revamped company whose shares would eventually be relisted.
Chileri quoted Bondi as saying he would leave Parmalat once he had completed the restructuring process.
Parmalat shares were suspended on the Milan bourse in December after the price plunged to 11 cents, from over two euros just before the scandal broke.
Parmalat's relations with bank creditors are touchy, with many under investigation for their relationships with the company and whether they knew about the true state of its finances when they sold Parmalat bonds onto the market.
Bondi plans to launch legal action against some banks to recover funds from transactions for Parmalat's former managers.
Parmalat's founder Calisto Tanzi and other former managers, accountants and consultants have been accused of hiding billions of euros of losses over the past decade, providing false information to the market and obstructing regulators.
