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regular-article-logo Monday, 13 May 2024

Amazon in Supreme Court to stall Future merger moves

The US retail giant’s plea follows the Singapore International Arbitration Centre stating that FRL is a party to the arbitration between Amazon and Future group

Our Special Correspondent Mumbai Published 22.10.21, 03:05 AM
Reacting to the development, shares of Future Retail fell almost four per cent at the stock exchanges on Thursday.

Reacting to the development, shares of Future Retail fell almost four per cent at the stock exchanges on Thursday. Shutterstock

US retail giant Amazon has filed a fresh petition in the Supreme Court seeking the top court’s intervention to set aside a September order by the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) that allowed Future Retail Ltd (FRL) to hold a meeting of its shareholders and creditors for the proposed merger with Reliance.

Amazon’s plea follows the Singapore International Arbitration Centre (SIAC) stating that FRL is a party to the arbitration between Amazon and the Future group. The partial award on Wednesday had dismissed the jurisdictional objection application filed by FRL.

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FRL had contended before the SIAC it should be excluded from the arbitration proceedings because it was not a party to the the dispute between its promoter Future Coupons Pvt Ltd (FCPL) and Amazon.

Following this partial win from the SIAC, Amazon has filed an interim application in the apex court. In a regulatory filing to the stock exchanges on Thursday, FRL disclosed that Amazon has appealed to the Supreme Court to set aside the September 28 order of the NCLT which allowed FRL to convene a meeting of its shareholders and creditors. FRL had then announced it will hold the meeting with equity shareholders on November 10 and with the creditors on November 11.

Reacting to the development, shares of Future Retail fell almost four per cent at the stock exchanges on Thursday. At the BSE, the FRL scrip settled 3.83 per cent lower at Rs 51.50.

The NCLT has also allowed two Reliance group firms to seek creditors approval for the acquisition of Future group entities, brushing aside Amazon’s objections.

Permission by the NCLT mean that while the companies can hold the meetings, the tribunal cannot give a final approval to the merger, till the Supreme Court gives its order.

In October 2020, an interim award was passed by the emergency arbitrator of the SIAC in favour of Amazon. Later in August this year, the Supreme Court ruled in favour of Amazon by holding that the award by the emergency arbitrator was valid and enforceable under Indian laws.

The SIAC has reportedly concluded hearing of the matter between Amazon and Future Group and has reserved its final order.

After the Future group entered into a deal with Reliance Industries in August last year, the US retail giant had dragged the Kishore Biyani led group into arbitration at the SIAC. Early this month, Reliance Retail Ventures, the retail arm of Reliance Industries, for the second time extended the timeline for completing the Rs 24,713 crore deal with Future Group to March 31, 2022.

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