Authorities are probing four people, including Lazard's (LAZ.N) Italy chairman, in a market-rigging and insider-trading inquiry into French dairy group Lactalis's bid for Parmalat SpA (PLT.MI), police said on Wednesday. Tax police raided the Italian offices of banks, public relations firms and investment funds as part of the inquiry into Lactalis's stake-building in Parmalat, Italy's biggest listed food company, according to a search warrant seen by Reuters. The searches included the local offices of French banks Credit Agricole (CAGR.PA) and Societe Generale (SOGN.PA), U.S. investment bank Lazard, Italian bank Intesa Sanpaolo (ISP.MI), public relations companies Brunswick and Image Building, and the home of one of the suspects, the warrant said. Lactalis, Europe's biggest dairy company, took 29 percent of Parmalat in March. It offered 3.4 billion euros ($4.9 billion), or 2.60 euros a share, for the rest last month in its bid to create the world's largest dairy group.
Lazard Limited (Lazard) is a financial advisory and asset management Company. Shares of LAZ fell by 0.92% or $-0.3673/share to $39.5627. In the past year, the shares have traded as low as $25.70 and as high as $46.54. On average, 720531 shares of LAZ exchange hands on a given day and today's volume is recorded at 266689.
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