Bingham gears up for bondholder battle in Parmalat scandal

Bingham McCutchen has been drafted into to fight for bondholders in the ever-worsening financial crisis surrounding Italian food group Parmalat.

The US law firm was appointed to represent bondholders, believed to be holding around £1.1bn in Parmalat bonds, shortly before Christmas after seeing off competition an estimated 10 other law firms for the mandate.

Bingham is working closely with Enrico Bondi, a restructuring specialist who has been appointed as special administrator Parmalat, to identify and recover assets.

Meanwhile the alleged multi-billion pound fraud at Parmalat has claimed another scalp after offices belonging to company's lawyer, Gian Poalo Zini of Zini & Associates were raided by New York police.

Zini is currently under arrest as part of a group of eight executives and partners in an auditing firm who have been detained by police.