Reliance Retail has extended the time period to conclude the deal to acquire Future Retail by another six months as it fights a lengthy legal battle with Amazon.
“Reliance Retail Ventures Limited (RRVL) has in exercise of the right provided thereunder, extended the timeline for long stop date from September 30, 2021 to March 31, 2022, which has been duly acknowledged by Reliance Retail and Fashion Lifestyle Limited, wholly owned subsidiary of RRVL,” Future Enterprises said in a statement to the BSE. Amazon had objected to the ₹24,713-crore deal on grounds that it violated an earlier agreement signed between the American online retail giant and Future group.
Future plan
After facing acute cash crunch post-Covid last year, the Kishore Biyani-owned Future Retail decided to sell its assets to Reliance Retail. The sale included the acquisition of the retail, wholesale, and logistics and warehousing business of Future Group for ₹24,713 crore.
This deal was contested by Amazon, which invested ₹1,400 crore in Future Retail’s sister concern Future Coupons Private Limited. In October, the American eCommerce giant dragged the retail chain into arbitration at the Singapore International Arbitration Centre (SIAC) and got an interim stay from an Emergency Arbitrator.
This essentially barred Future Retail from taking any step to dispose off or encumber its assets or issuing any securities to secure any funding from a restricted party.
Amazon later moved the Indian courts to seek an enforcement order and cease Biyani’s assets as a penalty. The matter is now in the Supreme Court, putting a halt to all further proceedings of approvals from the NCLT and its other shareholders.