Billionaires' legal battle settled between Viktor Pinchuk and Gennadiy Bogolyubov and Igor Kolomoisky

The legal row grabbed the world’s attention when Mr Pinchuk’s team alleged Mr Kolomoisky had arranged multiple killings

Viktor Pinchuk, Ukrainian tycoon and philanthropist speaks at a news conference in Kiev, Ukraine, (AP)

The London High Court’s biggest and bloodiest corporate legal battle was settled yesterday in a deal likely to have involved a payment of more than $1bn (£690bn) to Viktor Pinchuk, the billionaire friend of Bill Clinton and Tony Blair.

Mr Pinchuk had been suing two fellow Ukrainian oligarchs: Belgravia-based Gennadiy Bogolyubov and Igor Kolomoisky, a man famed for bankrolling a private army from his home in Geneva to fight Russian-backed forces.

According to Mr Pinchuk’s claim, the pair reneged on a mining deal with him, leaving him $2bn out of pocket. Legal analysts said he would have been unlikely to have settled for less than $1bn in the case.

The legal row grabbed the world’s attention when Mr Pinchuk’s team alleged Mr Kolomoisky had arranged multiple killings and beatings over a separate dispute – claims Mr Kolomoisky strenuously denies. Mr Justice Males had previously ruled evidence about these episodes would not be allowed in the case, which was due to begin on Monday.

Mr Pinchuk alleges he gave his two fellow oligarchs $143m to buy an iron ore mining business from the Ukrainian state. He claims they took his money but did not hand over the mine, instead selling half of it to another Ukrainian oligarch, Rinat Akhmetov, the billionaire famed in the UK for paying a record breaking £136m for a flat in London’s exclusive One Hyde Park development.

Mr Pinchuk claims the mining assets were now worth $1bn and he is owed a further $1bn in unpaid dividends.