ANZ settles Oswal legal dispute

Company News

by David Chau

ANZ Bank (ASX:ANZ) will take a $145 million hit to its balance sheet (in the form of an ‘additional provision charge’) after it settled a long-running court case with Indian billionaires, Pankaj and Radhika Oswal.

The Oswals sued ANZ in the Supreme Court of Victoria for $2.5 billion. The couple felt short-changed after they were placed in receivership and forced to sell their 65% stake in Burrup Fertilisers for US$580 million – which they claim is less than its true value.

Mr Oswal alleged that a senior executive from ANZ placed him in a headlock, and that his children would become "orphans" if they did not sign a guarantee, which led to the forced sale of their Burrup shares.

ANZ says that it has recovered all outstanding loans that it made to Burrup and the Oswals totaling A$1.3 billion. The Bank also denies many of the Oswals’ allegations and believes “the settlement is the right decision for shareholders” bearing in mind the risks of litigation in a case of “this size and complexity".

ANZ posted a net profit of $2.74 billion on 31 March 2016.

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