State Bank of India has moved to the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) seeking to recover more than Rs 1,200 crore from Anil Ambani-led group of companies under the personal guarantee clause of the bankruptcy law.
Anil Ambani had given personal guarantee to the loans given to Reliance Communications and Reliance Infratel.
SBI has filed two applications under section 95(1) that allows the creditor to apply either by himself or jointly with other creditors, or through a resolution professional, to the court for initiating the insolvency resolution process.
The tribunal, presided over by BSV Prakash Kumar, on Thursday gave Ambani a week to file reply to the application.
Ambani, however, denied executing any personal guarantee in favour a Chinese lender. A spokesperson, on behalf of Ambani said, “The matter relates to a corporate loan availed by Reliance Communications (RCom) and Reliance Infratel (RITL) and is not a personal loan of Ambani.”
In March 2020, the RCom and RITL Resolution Plans were approved by 100 per cent of their lenders. These Resolution Plans are awaiting the approval of NCLT, Mumbai, it said.
“Ambani will file suitable replies, and NCLT has not given any relief to the petitioner,” the statement added.
In early 2019, Reliance Communications, once the flagship company of the Anil Ambani-led Reliance group, had filed for bankruptcy.
In March, the board of State Bank of India had approved a resolution plan for Reliance Communications that envisaged lenders recovering around Rs 23,000 crore of their money, entailing a haircut of nearly 50 per cent.