Biz Watch

Parmalat on Ice
The milkmen were delivered just in time. After a three-month probe, Milan prosecutors sought indictments against Parmalat founder Calisto Tanzi, former finance director Fausto Tonna and 27 other people last week, the day before the expiration date to qualify for fast-track court proceedings in the €14 billion collapse of the Italian dairy-and-food giant. The executives are accused of an elaborate fraud scheme, including falsifying balance sheets and misleading investors. The Italian affiliates of

INDICATORS
Lining Up The Soldiers
Aircraftmaker Groupe Dassault will boost its stake in Socpresse, owner of periodicals such as Le Figaro, from 30% to 80%. The move strengthens ties between the French media and defense industry; Lagardère, owner of magazine powerhouse Hachette, has a 15% stake in defense concern EADS.

Window Of Opportunity
Hewlett-Packard will begin selling low-cost Linux-based PCs in Asia, making it the first major computer maker to launch large-scale marketing of PCs running the free, open-source operating system.

Tapped Out
Coca-Cola’s ambitions for the British bottled-water market were dampened when it had to recall 500,000 bottles of its recently launched Dasani that were found to contain excess levels of bromate, a potential carcinogen.

Window Of Opportunity
Hewlett-Packard will begin selling low-cost Linux-based PCs in Asia, making it the first major computer maker to launch large-scale marketing of PCs running the free, open-source operating system.

Bank of America and auditing houses Grant Thornton and Deloitte & Touche also face indictment (they deny wrongdoing). Prosecutors hope to skip the preliminary hearing and obtain rapid convictions in a case that has eroded confidence in Italian industry and finance. Another important delivery arrived last week, as state-appointed executor Enrico Bondi presented his bailout plan. He hopes to sell all noncore businesses and reduce Parmalat’s brands from 120 to 30 (concentrating on fruit juices and, of course, milk). Prosecutors in Milan are expected to seek more trials, under normal timetables, against other suspects.

T-Mobile’s Berry Big Deal
The BlackBerry, which allows secure wireless access to e-mail behind corporate firewalls, is the must-have gadget for the mogul on the move — at least in North America . Although Canada ‘s Research in Motion (RIM) has sold licenses for more than a million of these wonders, most have been outside Europe . Until now: at the CeBIT trade show in Hanover, Germany, last week, RIM announced that the “BlackBerry experience” will soon be available through T- Mobile , Europe’s largest provider. Customers won’t even need the BlackBerry itself — they can get the same functions on one of several multipurpose phones, like the Sony Ericsson P900. (No word yet on cost.) Why move beyond the eponymous handheld? With the high rate of European mobile usage, RIM COO Larry Conlee says: “If it doesn’t have phone functionality, it doesn’t get started here.” BlackBerries can be used as phones, but RIM knows that few make calls on them. — By Jim Ledbetter

Take Two Aspirin …
German drug-and-chemical firm Bayer posted a €1.36 billion loss for 2003, the worst in its 141-year history, due to restructuring costs and weak sales. The sales slump will also hit its 2004 numbers.