Anil Ambani ordered by UK Court to pay $700 million in dispute with Chinese banks

Former billionaire Anil Ambani was ordered by a London judge to pay more than $700 million to a trio of Chinese banks following a dispute over defaulted loans.

Ambani offered a personal guarantee on the banks’ loans to his Reliance Communications Ltd. in 2012, Judge Nigel Teare said in a ruling Friday. The tycoon, who has said his net worth is “zero,” has 21 days to make the payment.

Ambani had always contested that he had made a personal guarantee — something he’d dismissed as an “extraordinary potential personal liability” — but the summary judgment ruling means a full trial will no longer go ahead.

A spokesman for Ambani said that other Reliance group operations will not be affected by the ruling. Reliance Communications filed for bankruptcy last year.