Groupe Lactalis’s planned bid for Parmalat SpA (PLT), Italy’s biggest dairy company, is being challenged in an administrative court by Italian consumer group Codacons.

Lactalis shouldn’t be allowed to make a tender offer because the company doesn’t publicly disclose its accounts, according to a statement published on Codacons website.

"A takeover by a company that doesn’t publish its accounts violates the principle of transparency," the consumer group said. "It doesn’t allow those involved to make an informed choice: neither investors, nor Parmalat, nor the unions nor consumers."

Codacons, joined by other consumer groups, filed the appeal with the administrative court in the region of Lazio.

Lactalis, the privately held maker of President cheese, on April 26 offered to pay 3.38 billion euros ($4.9 billion) in an unsolicited bid for the 71 percent of Parmalat it doesn’t own to create the world’s largest dairy company.

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Tags: Lactalis, Parmalat