The storey of the Reliance acquisition has been taken to the Supreme Court by Future Retail
09 November 2021, Mumbai:
After e-commerce giant Amazon attempted to prevent the deal, India's Future Retail has moved the country's top court to halt a Singapore arbitration panel's decision to freeze a $3.4 billion asset sale. Last year, Future Retail,
India's second-largest retailer with over 1,700 outlets, decided to sell its retail and other activities to Reliance Industries, India's largest retail firm. Amazon claims that a stipulation in a transaction with one of Future Group's firms barred the Indian company from selling retail assets to anybody on a "restricted persons" list that included Reliance.
Future Retail, which operates India's famed Big Bazaar stores, claims it has not broken any contractual agreements with Amazon. The long-running spat between two of the world's wealthiest men, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and Reliance majority owner Mukesh Ambani, and could determine if Amazon can challenge Reliance's hegemony in India's massive retail industry.
According to a petition obtained by Reuters, Future Retail asked the Supreme Court to put the Singapore arbitration panel's ruling on hold, citing stress on its company if the deal goes through. The case is expected to be heard in the coming days.
Future stated in prior court papers that its bank loans and thousands of employees are still in jeopardy, and that failure to complete the Reliance acquisition might force it into bankruptcy.
Last year, the Singapore panel placed the Future-Reliance agreement on hold, and Future Retail's attempt to rescind that decision was denied in October.
Following that, a Delhi court turned down Future's request for emergency relief under Indian law to halt the panel's judgment. On Monday, Amazon didn't immediately reply to a request for comment.
In view of the arbitration panel's judgments, Future Retail has repeatedly argued that it should not proceed with the Reliance purchase.
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