Will act to reverse takeover of stores by RIL: Future

New Delhi, March 16

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.

“FRL and its Board remain committed to taking all such action as may be necessary to seek value adjustments and reversal of takeover of the stores (leases) by Reliance Group. FRL and its Board are taking steps to arrive at a feasible solution which will be in the interests of all stakeholders,” it said.

Earlier in February, Reliance Retail took over the operations of at least 300 stores of FRL and offered jobs to its employees after the Kishore Biyani-led group failed to make lease payments to landlords.

“FRL’s Board has taken strong objection to such action by Reliance Group and has put Reliance Group to notice to reconsider all other actions initiated over the past few days,” it added. FRL’s Board has also notified Reliance Group that assets such as store fixtures, store infrastructure, merchandise, inventory, etc belonging to FRL and lying inside these stores are hypothecated as security in favour of FRL’s lenders.

“The Board has called upon Reliance Group to ensure that the possession of the secured assets is not transferred and retained unharmed for the benefit of the Lenders,” it added.

According to FRL, there have been several media reports and public notices issued by Amazon misreporting that FRL has handed over its retail assets to Reliance in breach of orders of arbitration tribunal of SIAC and the Supreme Court of India. — PTI

SC seeks FRL’s reply on Amazon’s plea

The Supreme Court on Wednesday asked the Future Group to file its reply to an interim plea of US e-commerce major Amazon seeking resumption of arbitration over Future Retail’s merger deal with Reliance Retail and a direction to ensure the preservation of FRL’s assets