Prospectus - Notowania

217
>> Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements
Part E) – Information on risks and related risk management policies
As a result of the November 1, 2008 corporate matters, the following were constituted as parties with civil liability to the
Parmalat bondholders:
� in the Ciappazzi proceeding: UniCredit S.p.A., UniCredit Medio Credito Centrale S.p.A., UniCredit Corporate Banking
S.p.A., and UniCredit Banca di Roma S.p.A.
� in the Parmatour proceeding: UniCredit S.p.A. and UniCredit Banca S.p.A.
The Parmalat group companies in administration and numerous Parmalat bondholders joined the criminal proceedings as civil
claimants in all the above mentioned trials. All the civil claimants’ lawyers reserved the right to quantify damages at the end of
the first-instance trials. In the Eurolat proceedings the position of UniCredit S.p.A. as being legally liable and the civil claims of
Parmalat group companies lapsed following transfer of the case to the Court of Rome.
Upon the conclusion of the settlement of August 1, 2008 between UniCredit and Parmalat S.p.A. along with the Parmalat
group companies in administration, the latter waived or revoked the filing of all civil charges.
The staff members involved in the above trials are of the opinion that they carried on their business in a proper and legal
manner.
On the basis of the views of outside counsel as well as ours, it is at present not possible to reliably estimate the contingent
liability arising out of the three above cases, although there is a potential risk of legal liability for UniCredit due to the
complexity of the imputations. This is also due to the fact that the “Ciappazzi” and “Parmatour" proceedings are at an early
stage and that the Court of Parma has declared itself territorially incompetent to hear the “Eurolat” trial.
Lehman
As is widely known, 2008 witnessed periods of considerable financial market instability involving all major markets, and
especially those in the US.
Several companies in the Lehman Brothers group were put into receivership in the countries where they operated.
Specifically, in the US, Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc., among others, was put into receivership, while in the Netherlands,
Lehman Brothers Treasury Co. BV was put into receivership.
As a result of this, at September 20, 2009 a certain number of complaints were received concerning transactions involving
financial instruments issued by companies of the Lehman group, or in any event related to such instruments. A careful review
of these complaints is being conducted from time to time by the Group companies that received them. At September 30, 2009
the number of suits pending is basically insignificant.
Madoff
In December 2008, Bernard L. Madoff, former chairman of the NASDAQ and owner of Bernard L. Madoff Investment
Securities LLC (BMIS), an investment firm registered with the Securities Exchange Commission (SEC) and Financial Industry
Regulatory Authority (FINRA), was arrested and charged with securities fraud for having conducted what has been described
by US authorities as a “Ponzi scheme”. That same month, a trustee (the SIPA Trustee) was appointed to oversee the
liquidation of BMIS under the Securities Investor Protection Act. In March 2009, Bernard Madoff pleaded guilty to various
criminal charges, including securities fraud, investment advisor fraud, and false filings with the SEC, and in June was
sentenced to 150 years in prison.
In the wake of the discovery of Mr. Madoff’s fraud, a number of civil and criminal proceedings have been filed in several
countries against financial institutions and investment advisers by, or on behalf of, investors, by intermediaries acting in
respect of their role as broker to investors, and by public authorities in connection with the resulting losses. UniCredit and
certain of its subsidiaries and certain of their respective employees or former employees are named in Madoff-related,
ongoing proceedings and/or investigations in various countries around the world, including the United States and Austria.
Three putative securities class action lawsuits have been filed in the United States District Court for the Southern District of
New York. The three law suits have been filed by purported investors in funds which were invested, either directly or
indirectly, in BMIS. Defendants in the three lawsuits include, among others, Bank Austria, UniCredit, Pioneer Alternative
Investments, Primeo Select Fund and Primeo Executive Fund.