Hermes, the UK fund manager suing several banks for their alleged roles in helping Parmalat hide its debts, has claimed its first victory as Credit Suisse and Italian Banca Nazionale del Lavoro agreed to pay $25 million (£17 million) each to settle the case.
Hermes brought the class action lawsuit, which is seeking monetary damages, on behalf of equity investors who lost hundreds of million of dollars when Parmalat collapsed into bankruptcy in 2003.
The suit claims Credit Suisse, Banca Nazionale del Lavoro, now part of BNP Paribas, and other banks including Citigroup and Bank of America arranged financing to help Parmalat conceal its true financial position in order to safeguard lucrative banking relationships.
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Credit Suisse and Banca Nazionale del Lavoro, which both declined to comment, are the first two banks to settle the case which is ongoing.
The lawsuit, filed in the US district court in Manhattan, is a rare example of a UK investor suing a European company in the US courts. Although still relatively rare, class action lawyers predict British institutions will increasingly turn to the US legal system to sue the companies they have invested in to recover losses.
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Grant & Eisenhofer, US law firm, advised Hermes. Hermes declined to comment.