Parmalat, the Italian food group which collapsed amid fraud in 2003, under €14bn of debt, in one of Europe's biggest ever corporate bankruptcy cases, has recovered €420m ($603m) in an out-of-court agreement with Intesa Sanpaolo, the Italian bank, at the weekend.

This is the single biggest settlement Parmalat has reached and could have a bearing on lawsuits pending against other leading banks.

Parmalat and Intesa Sanpaolo said in a joint statement that the agreement settled all outstanding claims against the bank, whose bond unit also paid €160m in damages in 2004.

In separate action US district judge Lewis Kaplan has rejected a request by the ‘new Parmalat’ to dismiss a group lawsuit by shareholders seeking compensation relating to the Parmalat’s collapse.

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