Cirio fed a 1990s empire on retail bonds — the 2002 default dismantled it

Cirio was one of Italy's oldest food names — founded in Turin in 1856, a pioneer of canned food. Sergio Cragnotti bought it in 1994 for 450 billion lire and rebuilt it through aggressive acquisitions, from food brands to the Lazio football club. The growth ran on debt. To refinance it, the group moved its borrowing from banks to the market: about 1.1 billion euros of bonds were sold to small investors through Italian banks.

On 7 November 2002 Cirio Finanziaria missed the repayment of a 150-million-euro bond and announced a restructuring plan; the next day the London trustee declared default on that bond, and on 19 November the default extended to all the group's other bonds — 1.125 billion euros in total. Tens of thousands of small investors were left holding paper that had ceased to pay. The group's debts far exceeded its assets; in August 2003 Cirio filed for amministrazione straordinaria, Italy's extraordinary administration procedure.

The procedure separated what could still produce from the wreckage of the finances. In 2004 the industrial arm — the Cirio–De Rica food business — was sold to the Conserve Italia cooperative for 168 million euros. The 1856 name survives as a brand on the shelf; the group that carried it did not.