U.S. judge dismisses Parmalat suit vs BoA, Citigroup

NEW YORK (Reuters) - A U.S. District Court judge dismissed a class action lawsuit against Bank of America (BAC.N) and Citigroup Inc (C.N) on behalf of buyers of shares in Parmalat, the Italian dairy company that collapsed in 2003.

Judge Lewis A. Kaplan in Manhattan federal court said that "while plaintiffs maintain that some members of the alleged class bought from BoA in private placements, they concede that none of the named plaintiffs themselves did so.

"This is fatal to the plaintiffs' argument," said the ruling dated August 7 and made public on Monday.

Parmalat collapsed in Europe's largest bankruptcy under about 14 billion euros ($20.9 billion) of debt after uncovering a 4 billion euro hole in its accounts. It emerged from bankruptcy in 2005.

In July 2007, the same judge dismissed claims by foreign investors in Parmalat SpA against two banks and two auditors.

(Reporting by Grant McCool, editing by Leslie Gevirtz)