Parmalat Administrator Sues U.B.S.

ROME, Aug 6 (AFP) - The administrator of Parmalat is sueing UBS for 290 million euros (349 million dollars) plus interest for the role the Swiss bank allegedly played in the bankrupt Italian food group's collapse, the company said Friday.
Enrico Bondi lodged the case against UBS, a Parmalat creditor, in a Parma court in central Italy over the bank's role in the issue in July 2003 of two bonds with a total nominal value of 420 million euros.
Parmalat then bought from UBS 290 million euros in Banca Totta Acores bonds which were underwritten by UBS to protect against the risk of Parmalat defaulting on debt.
Bondi suspects that UBS helped Parmalat make big bond issues to recover part of its debt owed to the Swiss bank.
The company seeks to revoke the bonds under Italian law which says that transactions concluded before a company goes bankrupt can be cancelled.
Parmalat was declared insolvent late last year and Bondi was brought in to restructure the group, which had collapsed under 14.27 billion euros in debt and a fraud scandal.
The company has also recently brought a damages case against Citigroup bank in a court in New Jersey in the United States.
Earlier this week the company declined to comment on a report that it would take legal action against Deutsche Bank, UBS, and Bank of America.