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<\/em><\/strong>Anil Ambani<\/a>, the younger brother of Asia’s richest man, faces a $680 million legal test to answer one and only one question: Just what did he know about what his employees were doing on his behalf? Other Indian tycoons will take an abiding interest in his defense.
The $680 million is the amount Industrial & Commercial Bank of China<\/a> Ltd. (ICBC) is seeking to recover from the former Indian billionaire by invoking what they say is a personal guarantee he gave in 2012 to secure a $925 million loan for Reliance Communications Ltd<\/a>., his mobile services firm that’s now in bankruptcy. Ambani, whose older sibling Mukesh controls Reliance Industries Ltd<\/a>., India’s most valuable company, claims he never knowingly provided any guarantee.
In his version, he had only authorized his employees to furnish a non-binding \"personal comfort letter\" to lenders, including ICBC, China Development Bank<\/a> and the Export-Import Bank of China. Somehow, that letter of comfort morphed into what the banks now argue to be an iron-clad guarantee under English law. \"A truly remarkable feature of Mr. Ambani’s case,\" London Judge David Waksman said in his order Monday, \"is that he has himself proffered no explanation as to why he should have been deceived in this way.\"
As to how personal assets were put at risk unbeknownst to the boss until RCom defaulted in 2017, the order noted that Ambani’s lawyer had argued that his client's “position was that ‘he hasn’t got a clue’ how all of this came about.” Judge Waksman stopped short of awarding the summary judgment requested by ICBC, though not before characterizing Ambani's evidence as \"inexplicably incomplete, implausible and highly unlikely.\"
A trial will commence next year. Pending the verdict, the court may ask some or all of the claim to be deposited with it.
Ambani’s representative focused on the the judge’s decision to dismiss the banks’ application for a summary judgment. \"Mr. Ambani has contested the proceedings and put up a strong legal defense, and will continue to contest the proceedings and seek leave to defend, without any conditions as to making of deposits or payments being imposed,\" the representative said in a statement, according to Bloomberg News.
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Value destruction<\/strong>
This is the younger Ambani’s second brush with the pitfalls of personal guarantee. Earlier this year, he managed to avoid a three-month prison term when his elder brother showed up just in time to settle the $80 million claim of Ericsson AB. The Swedish telecom equipment maker had obtained a contempt-of-court order to put Ambani in jail if the payment – which he had personally guaranteed – wasn’t received by March 19.
Other Indian business families should treat Ambani’s travails as a cautionary tale.
When India’s economy was booming, and firms were greedy to use leverage to grow, many of their controlling shareholders liberally gave out personal guarantees to lenders. But the rosy assumptions behind aggressive, debt-fueled expansion have come unstuck for many borrowers in an economy that has slowed down sharply. The Ruia family recently lost its crown jewel — a 10 million-tons-a-year integrated steel plant in western India — to ArcelorMittal<\/a>.
Even here, the former asset owners had backed their borrowings with personal guarantees, and State Bank of India, the main lender, had even made an attempt to enforce them. With Mittal’s $6 billion check in the bank, that recovery may have now become a moot point. But from Dec. 1, personal guarantees on corporate loans will be adjudicated under Indian bankruptcy law. That will put a healthy fear in the minds of Indian businessmen about borrowing too recklessly. Their own assets could end up getting liquidated together with those of their companies.
As for Ambani, he’ll get his day in an English court to prove his lack of awareness. The bar is high, though. \"I consider it extremely unlikely that his role was really limited to simply chairing board meetings with little or no interest or role in what RCom was doing, especially in the context of a major refinancing which was needed urgently,\" Judge Waksman noted.
This has all the ingredients of an engaging courtroom drama.
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安尼尔•安巴尼亚洲首富的弟弟,面临6.8亿美元的法定测试回答一个且只有一个问题:他怎么知道代表他他的员工在做什么呢?其他印度大亨需要一个持久的兴趣,他的防守。
6.8亿美元是工商银行中国有限公司(工商银行)正寻求恢复前印度亿万富翁通过调用他们所说的是一个个人担保他在2012年获得9.25亿美元的贷款信实电信有限公司他的移动服务公司,现在在破产。安巴尼的兄弟穆凯什控制信实工业有限公司印度最有价值的公司,声称他从未有意提供任何保证。
在他的版本,他只有经过授权的员工提供一次不具约束力的“个人安慰信”银行,包括中国工商银行,中国国家开发银行和中国进出口银行。不知为何,那封信安慰演变成现在的银行认为是一个铁壳在英国法律保证。“巴尼先生的案例中,一个真正突出的“伦敦法官大卫Waksman说周一在他的命令,“是他自己提出任何解释为什么他应该被以这种方式欺骗。”
如何个人资产处于危险之中不知道老板直到2017年违约RCom,订单指出,安巴尼的律师说,他的客户的“位置”他没有线索“所有这一切都是怎么来的。”Waksman并未授予法官工行的即决判决请求,虽然没有之前描述巴尼的证据是“令人费解的不完整,难以置信,不太可能。”
审判将于明年开始。等待判决,法院可能会问一些或所有的声称自己是沉积。
安巴尼的代表关注法官的判决驳回银行的简易判决申请。”安巴尼先生已经有争议的程序,把一个强大的法律辩护,并将继续比赛诉讼,寻求离开保护,没有任何条件,使存款或支付的,”代表在一份声明中说,根据彭博新闻。乐动扑克
价值的破坏
这是年轻的安巴尼第二刷个人担保的陷阱。今年早些时候,他设法避免监禁三个月时,他的哥哥出现及时解决索赔8000万美元的瑞典电信设备制造商爱立信AB。获得了“蔑视法庭”来把巴尼关进监狱,如果付款——他亲自保证——没有收到3月19日。
其他印度商业家庭应该把巴尼的阵痛引以为戒。
当印度的经济蓬勃发展,企业贪婪的使用杠杆成长,他们的许多控股股东大方地给了个人担保贷款。但咄咄逼人,背后的乐观假设债务推动的扩张已经松脱的许多借款人经济急剧放缓。鲁亚家族最近失去了皇冠上的宝石——10 million-tons-a-year集成在印度西部——钢铁工厂阿塞洛-米塔尔。
即使在这里,前者与个人资产所有者已经支持他们的借款担保,和印度国家银行,主要银行,甚至试图实施。米塔尔在银行的60亿美元的支票,复苏可能已经成为一个有争议的问题。但从12月1日,个人担保公司贷款将根据印度破产法律裁决。将健康心中的恐惧的印度商人借贷太鲁莽了。他们自己的资产可能最终得到与他们的公司一起清算。
至于安巴尼,他会得到一天在英国法庭来证明他的缺乏认识。然而,酒吧是高的。“我认为这非常不可能,他的作用很有限的简单主持董事会会议很少或根本没有兴趣或角色RCom在做什么,特别是在主要再融资的背景下迫切需要,”法官Waksman指出。
这所有的成分参与法庭戏剧。
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