Another victory for Parmalat

This month's award comes after revocatory and damages actions filed by the Italian dairy giant against BNL and Ifitalia were settled in January.

Parmalat has now reached settlements with a number of European financial institutions in its ongoing fight to recoup the billions lost in 2003, when the company defaulted on more than €14 billion in debt.

The legal action is taking place on both sides of the Atlantic. Parmalat also reached a settlement last month with Deloitte & Touche and Dianthus over their role in the accounting scandal of 2003.

Deloitte & Touche and Dianthus - the firm that operated in Italy under the Deloitte & Touche name until July 2003 - have committed to provide Parmalat with total consideration valued at $149 million.

As a result, Parmalat has experienced a spectacular reversal of fortunes. Under new chief executive Enrico Bondi, the company has followed a strategy to recoup the billions it lost in the financial scandal and two years of Italian government administration.

With Bondi at the helm, Parmalat has worked to stave off efforts by an Italian banking conglomerate to disintegrate the group, and has initiated various legal proceedings in Europe and the US against banks allegedly involved in the fraud.

Bondi's argument is that a number of financial institutions knew about the fraud and were partly responsible. However, the financial institutions involved in the 2003 affair have largely maintained that they were fooled by Parmalat's accounting chiefs.

Parmalat also announced last week that revenues and earnings grew in 2006 although revenues were lower in some of its biggest markets, notably Italy and Spain.