The Mumbai bench of the NCLT has stayed the proposed shareholders’ meeting called by Future Retail to approve the Rs 25,000-crore merger deal with Reliance Industries.
Future Retail, along with six other companies, had notified the SEBI that it will conduct e-voting till November 9 and declare the results of the same on November 10.
According to sources, Future Group had submitted an application to hold the meetings between November 26-30. On the other hand, Amazon had stated that post the Supreme Court verdict, the Singapore International Arbitration Centre (SIAC) tribunal had given an order and the High Court (HC) had also refused to grant interim relief, so the meeting could not be held.
In the hearing on Monday, “the NCLT has said till a detailed verdict, Future Group cannot hold meetings temporarily also,” said a source close to the matter.
Meanwhile, the independent directors of Future Retail have written to the Competition Commission of India (CCI) to quash the approval given to Amazon to invest Rs 1,431 crore in Future Coupon Pvt Ltd, after it “concealed information.”
The independent directors have alleged that Amazon planned to invest in Future Retail. However, according to Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) norms, an international retail company cannot invest in an Indian retail chain.
On the other hand, Amazon had written to the SEBI informing them about the orders passed by the Supreme Court, High Court and SIAC barring Future Group companies from conducting a shareholders’ meeting seeking approval.