Even as Amazon furiously tried to block formal acquisitions through lawsuits and arbitration across India and Singapore, Ambani’s Reliance Industries Ltd. quietly began poaching employees and taking over rental leases of hundreds of stores once run by Future Retail Ltd. and Future Lifestyle Fashions Ltd. in late February. Ambani’s bloodless takeover compelled Amazon to seek a resolution to the heated dispute, scared Future’s investors and bankers, and raised concerns about asset stripping.
“We were not expecting Reliance Group to take such harsh measures without even consulting us,” “In a March 2 letter to Reliance’s retail operations, Future Retail’s Chief Financial Officer Chandra Prakash Toshniwal wrote: “Please confirm that there will be no reduction in the amount due.””
Future Lifestyle also issued a letter on March 5 that voiced “concerns and shock” and asked Reliance not to take any steps that “may be considered seriously by the Lenders, who have charge on all current and fixed assets” of the company (Bloomberg has copies of both letters). Future’s credit lines may be cut off, destroying what’s left of an already cash-strapped retailer, according to the letter.
After Amazon protested to Reliance’s August 2020 bid to buy Future Retail’s stores and warehouses for 247.1 billion rupees ($3.4 billion), Kishore Biyani’s Future Group became embroiled in a battle between two giant firms. As it bled out Future Retail, the American e-commerce behemoth claimed the deal broke its 2019 agreement with another Future Group subsidiary.
Before the outbreak, Future Group was India’s largest retail food chain, making it a tempting target for two of the world’s wealthiest men, Mukesh Ambani and Jeff Bezos of Amazon, as they vie for control of the only billion-plus consumer market where foreign corporations can compete.
Reliance, Amazon, and the Future Group representatives did not immediately respond to an emailed request for comment on the letters.
Investors and lenders in the Future Group, including Blackstone Inc. and L Catterton, are now waiting to see if Reliance, Future, and Amazon can reach an out-of-court solution by March 15, when they must report progress to India’s Supreme Court.
Complete News Source : MINT
