The brother of Asia’s richest man has pleaded poverty in his dispute with three Chinese banks seeking US$680 million (HK$5.28 billion) in defaulted loans

The brother of Asia’s richest man has pleaded poverty in his dispute with three Chinese banks seeking US$680 million (HK$5.28 billion) in defaulted loans.
“The value of my investments has collapsed,” Anil Ambani said, according to a court filing by the banks in a London lawsuit. “The current value of my shareholdings is down to around US$82.4m and my net worth is zero after taking into account my liabilities. In summary, I do not hold any meaningful assets which can be liquidated for the purposes of these proceedings.”
The lawsuit was filed by three state-controlled Chinese banks which argue that they provided a loan of US$925 million to Ambani’s Reliance Communications in 2012 with the condition that he personally guarantee the debt. The comments were disclosed on Friday as Ambani sought to avoid depositing hundreds of millions of dollars with the court ahead of a trial.
The embattled Indian tycoon says that while he agreed to give a non-binding “personal comfort letter,” he never gave a guarantee tied to his personal assets – an “extraordinary potential personal liability.”
The 60-year-old is the brother of Mukesh Ambani, who is worth US$56.5 billion and is the wealthiest man in Asia. Anil, on the other hand, has seen his personal fortune dwindle in recent years, losing his billionaire status. His telecommunications group Reliance Communications filed for bankruptcy last year.

The banks asked Judge David Waksman to force Anil Ambani to put up US$656 million into the court’s account.