Anil Ambani, who was the 6th richest man in the world with a wealth of $42 billion in 2008, has now crashed out of the billionaire club. In 11 years, the equity value of Ambani's entire business empire has now crashed to Rs 3,651 crore ($523 million). That value, though, also includes substantial pledged shares.
The value of his un-encumbered equity on June 11, excluding invoked and pledged shares, is even lower at Rs 765 crore ($109 million)-barely 2 times the $50 million tag of the Bombardier Global Express jet he flies.
Ambani's shrunk empire 'The Reliance Group' was valued at over Rs 8,000 crore just four months back, before lenders invoked shares in his firms multiple times due to payment defaults. The drastic fall in value is on account of the sale of 42.88 per cent stake in mutual fund joint venture-- Reliance Nippon Life Asset Management (RNLAM). The other reasons for the value erosion include the higher level of pledging of promoter's stake in group companies and their invocation by lenders or falling market values.
In March 2018, the Reliance Group companies had a total debt of over Rs 1.7 lakh crore. It would have drastically reduced after the sale of major assets and businesses. But in the process, Anil Ambani has lost a lot of his empire. Last week, he claimed that over Rs 35,000 crore of loans--- principal of Rs 24,800 crore and interest payments of Rs 10,600 crore --- have been paid back in the last 14 months and all future payment obligations will be met in a timely manner.
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The biggest asset in younger Ambani's business empire was RNLAM, valued around Rs 13,500 crore in the stock market. "Nippon Life and other few financial investors bought RCap's stake in RNLAM," said people in the know. The entire stake sale has realised Rs 6,000 crore which will be used to pare down RCap's debt of Rs 46,400 crore (March 2018).
Aggregate market capitalisation of other group companies --- Reliance Power (RPower), Reliance Infrastructure (RInfra), RCap, Reliance Naval and Engineering (RNaval), Reliance Home Finance (RHome) and the bankrupt Reliance Communications (RCom)-- stood at Rs 7,539 crore on June 11. Of that, Ambani has already pledged his entire stake in RNaval, erstwhile Pipavav Shipyard, and it has been taken to National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) by IDBI Bank last year for initiating insolvency proceedings.
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