* Lactalis ups Parmalat stake to 29 percent in $1-bln move
* Buys 15.3 percent stakes from three investment funds
* Ferrero says still interested in long-term solution
* Parmalat shares close down 7.1 percent, outpace sector fall
(Adds Ferrero comment, updates shares)
By Ian Simpson
MILAN, March 22 (Reuters) - French dairy group Lactalis tightened its grip on Parmalat SpA by raising its holding in the Italian food company to just below 30 percent, piling the pressure on potential Italian buyers.
Europe's biggest dairy group said it was buying 15.3 percent of Parmalat from Zenit Asset Management, Skagen and Mackenzie Financial Corp of Canada's IGM Financial for $1.1 billion, defying vocal resistance from Rome to foreign buys.
Lactalis' rapid inroads into Parmalat's capital prompted food-maker Ferrero, headed by Italy's richest man Michele Ferrero, to say it remained interested in a long-term industrial solution for Parmalat if conditions allow.
Italy's biggest retail bank, Intesa Sanpaolo, may form a consortium with the closely held maker of Nutella spread, to try to take control of Parmalat. But time is running short ahead of a looming shareholder meeting scheduled on April 12-14. Intesa owns around 2.4 percent of Parmalat.
Lactalis could win control of Parmalat at the AGM by locking in as many as nine out of 11 board seats under company bylaws.
The French group is paying 2.8 euros per share, or about 744 million euros ($1.1 billion) to hike its holdings in Parmalat, a premium of 13.5 percent to Parmalat's closing price on Monday.
Lactalis's stake is just below a 30 percent threshold at which it would have to launch a mandatory buyout bid. However, Lactalis said it does not want to take over Parmalat, worth about 4.5 billion euros, triggering a share selloff.
Parmalat's stock closed down 7 percent at 2.28 euros, giving up gains since Lactalis announced its stake-building last week.
"The stock has lost appeal as a takeover seems now unlikely and the focus is back on fundamentals," said Simone Ragazzi, an analyst at Italy's Centrobanca.
Analysts say a tie-up between Lactalis and Parmalat would not appear to raise antitrust concerns because of substantial synergies in Italy and in southern Europe.
Italy's No. 2 dairy group Granarolo has talked with Intesa about Parmalat but has had no contacts with Ferrero, Granarolo's chairman Gianpiero Calzolari said on Tuesday.
He said Granarolo did not intend to invest cash in any consortium and that Parmalat was one of the group's options.
FRENCH THREAT
The move by Lactalis move came as the centre-right government of Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi was considering legislation to keep strategic companies in Italian hands.
French companies have been at the forefront of Italian fears of foreign incursions, with EDF and Italian utility A2A quarrelling over control of Italian power company Edison. French luxury group LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton SA is also buying Italian jeweller Bulgari.
"Nothing rules out a buyout offer but I don't think they (Lactalis) will do it because of politics. In the meantime, they have control," said a Milan-based analyst.
Parmalat has been seen as an attractive target in part because of 1.4 billion euros in cash accumulated mainly through litigation settlements following the group's rebirth from its spectacular collapse in 2003.
Parmalat owns the global fruit juice brand Santal and dominates the overall Italian liquid milk market.
Lactalis, the maker of President camembert cheese, has grown through acquisitions and in Italy owns top cheese brand Galbani.
A stake in Parmalat made more sense for Ferrero than the 2010 bid that Ferrero considered for British confectioner Cadbury and then dropped. However, Ferrero may have waited too long, a source close to the situation told Reuters.
"A tie-up could make sense, but I don't know if they'll join in the end. It's a little late and the name of (Ferrero) has come up amid political pressure," the source said.
(Additional reporting by Nigel Tutt, Antonella Ciancio, Valentina Za, Giancarlo Navach and Stephen Jewkes in Milan and by Dominique Vidalon in Paris, Editing by Alexander Smith and Erica Billingham) ($1=.7049 euros)