The Singapore International Arbitration Centre (SIAC) has awarded Rs 23.7 crore in damages, besides arbitration and litigation costs, to Amazon in its long-running dispute with the Kishore Biyani-led Future Group. The three-member bench of the tribunal held that Future Group had breached the terms of its contract with Amazon by entering into a transaction with Reliance.
Listed companies of the Kishore Biyani-led Future group on Saturday informed exchanges about meetings of their respective shareholders and creditors being convened on April 20 and 21 to get their approval for the Rs 24,713-crore deal with Reliance Retail. Listed entities, including Future Enterprises Ltd, Future Retail Ltd, Future Consumer Ltd and Future Supply Chain, informed exchanges about dates and other procedures for the virtual meetings of shareholders and creditors. The meetings are held virtually through video conferencing and other audio-visual means, the addendum notice added.
The group had launched a 5-day promotional blitz called Mahabachat across its retail chains from August 12 till August 17. The promotion and special offers were offered across the Group's retail formats -- Big Bazaar, Pantaloons, Food Bazaar, Central, EZone, Home Town, Brand Factory, Furniture Bazaar, KBs Fairprice, Mobile Bazaar and Aadhar.
Enthused by its success in retail, the Kishore Biyani-led $2 billion Future Group will soon foray into the logistics business, investing more than Rs 400 crore (Rs 4 billion) by 2010.
Future Consumer Enterprise Ltd, the food and FMCG arm of Kishore Biyani-led Future Group, on Friday acquired south India-based convenience store chain Nilgiris for nearly Rs 300 crore (Rs 3 billion).
The partnership will initially focus on the Future Group fashion brands.
Shares of Future Group firms on Monday faced heavy drubbing, tanking up to 20 per cent, after Reliance Industries said its Rs 24,713-crore deal to acquire Future Group's assets cannot be implemented after secured creditors of the Kishore Biyani-led companies voted against the proposal. The stock of Future Consumer plummeted 19.91 per cent, Future Supply Chain Solutions slipped 19.96 per cent, Future Lifestyle Fashions 19.89 per cent, Future Enterprises tumbled 9.87 per cent and Future Retail fell 4.96 per cent on the BSE. Shares of Reliance Industries also dipped 1.75 per cent.
Future group firms are convening meetings of their respective shareholders and creditors in November to seek approval to their proposed merger into Future Enterprises as part of the 24,713-crore deal with Reliance Retail. Several listed transferor firms including Future Retail, Future Consumer, Future Enterprises, Future Lifestyle Fashions, Future Markets Networks and Future Supply Chain Solutions - have informed their shareholders and creditors about the meetings which will take place on November 10 and 11. The meetings of the equity shareholders, secured creditors and unsecured creditors will be held through video conferencing /other audio-visual means, said Future group companies, adding that remote e-voting facility will be offered to all participants.
Reliance Industries on Saturday said its Rs 24,713-crore deal with the Future Group cannot go ahead as secured creditors of the latter have voted against it.
T E Narasimhan/Business Standard reports from Chennai on how the Future group plans to shore up its small store network in the South.
Customers want formats which have wide assortment, international products, and so on. Basically, it is an assortment play.
Future Cap's IPO was subscribed 8 times over on the second day of is issue.
Future Capital IPO was fully subscribed within four hours of its opening. The company is expected to raise Rs 490 crore through the IPO.
Kishore Biyani-led Future Retail Ltd on Thursday accused e-commerce giant Amazon of adopting a media strategy of "having every development reported and converted into a line of communication with stock exchanges" regarding the Amazon-Future Coupons' arbitration proceedings in Singapore. The Court of Singapore International Arbitration Centre (SIAC) had turned down a plea of Future Retail Ltd (FRL) to be excluded from being a party to arbitration. In a regulatory filing disclosing the development, FRL said,"...this disclosure is being made out of abundant caution to avoid any speculation given Amazon's media strategy of having every development reported and converted into a line of communication with stock exchanges."
Bharti Retail will issue one equity share of Rs 2 each for every share of Rs 2 held in Future Retail
The downsizing is a direct fall-out of the slowdown in the business and the promoter's plan to sell stake in the life insurance business.
Reliance Retail will acquire the retail, wholesale, logistics and warehousing businesses of the Future Group. Future Group's financial and insurance businesses are not part of the deal.
The Kishore Biyani-led group is scaling up operations with Foodhall, its latest venture in the food retail space, which would offer a different format to cater to the growing aspirations of consumers.
The National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) on Thursday gave crisis-hit Future Retail Ltd (FRL) time till May 12 to submit its reply to the insolvency petition filed against the company by Bank of India. Last week, Bank of India had moved the tribunal seeking to initiate insolvency resolution proceedings against FRL, which has defaulted on loan repayments. The NCLT hearing on Thursday also came against the backdrop of Reliance calling off its proposed Rs 24,713 crore-deal with Future Group after secured creditors voted against it.
When Kishore Biyani- led Future Group opened the 200,000 square feet Home Town store in Mumbai's Vikhroli early last year, it became a symbol of the group's giant-sized ambitions in home solutions.
Experts say Future group will look for an out-of-court settlement with help from Reliance in the Amazon matter.
Future Retail, once the crown jewel of Kishore Biyani-led Future Group, is now heading for liquidation as its lenders could not get any reasonable buyer of the debt-ridden firm. As the Committee of Creditors (CoC) rejected the sole resolution plan submitted by Space Mantra after four extensions in the deadline to complete the corporate insolvency resolution process (CIRP), the RP of the company has now approached NCLT to initiate liquidation of Future Retail (FRL). "The resolution plan submitted by Space Mantra Private has not been approved by CoC of FRL, kindly note that, the Resolution Professional (RP) has filed an application, before the National Company Law Tribunal, Mumbai Bench, for initiation of liquidation of FRL," said a regulatory filing from FRL.
Payback India has 10 million members now.
Big retailers say the events work, but others aren't sure.
Future Retail Ltd (FRL) on Tuesday said it will explore all legal remedies to pursue its Rs 24,713-crore deal with RIL following a Delhi high court order directing status quo to be maintained till the court pronounces its order. Earlier in the day, a Delhi high court bench of Justice J R Midha directed FRL to maintain status quo in relation to its deal with Reliance Retail that has been objected to by US-based e-commerce giant, Amazon. Amazon welcomed the latest court directive.
The Singapore-based arbitrator, SIAC, has rejected Future Retail's plea to lift the interim stay on its Rs 24,713-crore deal with Reliance Retail, giving a major relief to Amazon that is contesting the transaction. The development comes a day after the Singapore International Arbitration Centre (SIAC) held that Future Retail is a party to the ongoing arbitration between Amazon and Future group in the dispute over the sale of its assets to Reliance Retail. Future had contended before the SIAC that it should be excluded from arbitration proceedings because it is not a party to the dispute between its promoter Future Coupons Pvt Ltd (FCPL) and Amazon.
Amazon has also signed a term sheet with Kishore Biyani-led Future group to invest $600 million to $700 million for a 12 to 15 per cent stake in the retail giant, it is learnt.
The equity infusion will happen at Rs 505 a unit, which is a premium of nearly 14 per cent over February 4's close of Rs 444.60.
The National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) on Tuesday allowed Kishore Biyani-led Future Group firms to hold meetings of its shareholders and creditors to seek approval for the sale of assets to Reliance Retail Ltd. A Mumbai-based two-member NCLT bench comprising Suchitra Kanuparthi and Chandra Bhan Singh dismissed the application filed by e-commerce major Amazon opposing the scheme of merger of the Future group companies, sources close to the development said. Confirming the development, a Future group firm through a regulatory filing informed that NCLT has passed an order, allowing the company to hold meetings of its shareholders and creditors to seek approval for the scheme.
Public sector lender Bank of India has moved to the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) seeking initiation of insolvency proceedings against Future Retail Ltd and a moratorium over the assets of the Kishore Biyani-led debt-ridden firm. Besides, Bank of India (BOI), the lead banker of a consortium of banks that lent money to Future Retail Ltd (FRL), also suggested the insolvency tribunal appoint Vijay Kumar V Iyer as the interim professional of the company. Meanwhile FRL, in a regulatory filing, said it has been served and received a copy of the petition and is in the "process of taking legal advice".
Future Retail Ltd (FRL) on Wednesday said it has filed an appeal in the Delhi high court against the status quo order on its Rs 24,713-crore deal with Reliance. On Tuesday, a Delhi High Court bench of Justice J R Midha had directed FRL to maintain status quo in relation to its Rs 24,713-crore deal with Reliance Retail that has been objected to by US-based e-commerce giant, Amazon. Following the Tuesday directive, FRL had said it would explore legal recourse.
Future Retail on Saturday said it has missed the due date for payment of Rs 3,494.56 crore to banks and lenders as it could not sell assets due to its ongoing litigation with amazon, impacting its monetisation plans. Future Retail had last year entered into a one-time restructuring (OTR) scheme for COVID-19 hit companies with a consortium of banks and lenders and was to discharge "an aggregate amount of Rs 3,494.56 crore" on or before December 31, 2021. Kishore Biyani-led Future group firm would be "co-operating for completing the monetisation of the specified business within next 30 days" as per directions of the banks to resolve the current situation, said a regulatory filing by Future Retail.
According to the plan made by the lenders and RIL, all Future group listed companies will be merged into Future Enterprises. RIL will then invest Rs 8,500 crore in the merged entity which will include the retail business.
Reliance Retail Ventures Limited (RRVL) on Thursday said it has entered into a Master Franchise agreement with 7-Eleven to run convenience stores in India. The first 7-Eleven store is set to open on Saturday, in Andheri East, Mumbai, RRVL, the retail arm of Reliance Industries Ltd, said. "RRVL, through its wholly-owned subsidiary, 7-India Convenience Retail Limited, has entered into a master franchise agreement with 7-Eleven, Inc (SEI) for the launch of 7-Eleven convenience stores in India," said a joint statement.
Kishore Biyani-led Future Retail Ltd (FRL) on Thursday told the Delhi high court that Amazon was opposing the Rs 24,713 crore deal with Reliance as the Mukesh Ambani company was a competitor, a contention denied by the US-based e-commerce giant which said it was interested in salvaging FRL. FRL contended before a bench of Chief Justice D N Patel and Justice Jyoti Singh that Amazon was not concerned if the deal falls through then all the shops of the Indian company would be closed down and it's more than 25,000 employees would be without any livelihood. Senior advocate Harish Salve, appearing for FRL, told the court that the US-based e-commerce giant was only concerned that the Mukesh Ambani group company should not get the shops as they are a competitor of Amazon.
Future Retail Ltd (FRL) on Wednesday said it is "committed" to reversal of takeover of its stores by Reliance Retail and will take all such action as may be necessary to seek value adjustments. The Kishore Biyani-led firm also said the action of the Reliance Group has come as a "surprise" to it. Moreover, the action of taking possession of its stores has "complicated" the positive scenario which had started building up after a CCI order in December 2021, FRL said in a regulatory filing.
The Supreme Court Monday stayed the ongoing proceedings before the Delhi high court in the case related to the amalgamation of Future Retail Ltd (FRL) with Reliance Retail. A bench of Justices R F Nariman, B R Gavai and Hrishikesh Roy posted the matter for hearing on May 4 and directed that all pleadings be completed in the matter. Amazon had moved the apex court on April 8 challenging the Delhi high court's division bench order that had vacated a stay on Kishore Biyani-led Future Group proceeding with its Rs 24,713 crore asset sale to Reliance Industries.
Amazon has moved the Supreme Court challenging the Delhi high court's division bench order that had vacated a stay on Kishore Biyani-led Future Group proceeding with its Rs 24,713 crore asset sale to Reliance Industries. Amazon, in the petition, sought a stay on the March 22 order of the division bench, terming it "illegal", "random", "inequitable and unfair". On March 22, a division bench of the Delhi high court had granted Future a reprieve from a March 18 single-judge order that restrained it from taking any steps to sell assets to Reliance.
Banking sources said the debt recast is actually 'Plan B' to help the nation's largest retailer stay afloat.
In a fresh twist in the fight to gain supremacy in the Indian retail market, billionaire Mukesh Ambani's Reliance Retail has slapped notices on Future Retail for terminating sub-leases of 950 stores it had taken over previously. In stock exchange filings, the Kishore Biyani-led debt-laded Future Group firms said they have been served notices to terminate the lease of 835 Future Retail stores and 112 Future Lifestyle stores. Last month, Reliance Retail had taken over store spaces for which the Future Group couldn't pay lease rent. These were then sub-let to the Future Group for operation.