Amazon asks Sebi to withdraw $3.4-bn Future-RIL deal approval
Amazon has written to Ajay Tyagi, chairman of market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi), and other top executives, requesting that the conditional approval granted to Future Retail Limited (FRL) for the $3.4 billion merger between Future Group and Reliance Industries be withdrawn. Other key officials at stock exchanges such as BSE Limited and the National Stock Exchange of India Limited have also received the letter (NSE).
In August 2019, Amazon paid Rs 1,500 crore for a 49 percent share in Future Coupons, the promoter entity of Future Retail. Amazon is in a court battle with Reliance Industries Limited to thwart the Kishore Biyani-led retailer’s $3.4 billion transaction (RIL).Amazon has asked Sebi and the stock exchanges to intervene in the binding injunctions against FRL, FCPL (Future Coupons Pvt Ltd), and the Biyanis issued under the EA Order and the Order on Vacate Application, and to recall the Observation Letters as soon as possible.
“We refer to our previous correspondence, which includes the letter dated October 30, 2021. “We wish to repeat that the Emergency Arbitrator issued an EA Order prohibiting FRL, FCPL, and the Biyanis from taking any action in connection with, in furtherance of, or in favour of the Impugned Transaction,” Amazon wrote in a letter reviewed by Business Standard on November 24.Future Group and Amazon did not respond to a request for comment on the matter.Amazon stated in the letter that FRL provoked the Observation Letters from the SEBI and the Indian Stock Exchanges in breach of the EA Order’s enforceable orders. As a result, the Observation Letters are in violation of the EA Order, have no legal foundation, and are a nullity, according to the court.
The EA Order including the instructions against FRL, FCPL, and the Biyanis was issued on October 25, 2020, by an emergency arbitrator appointed under the Rules of the Singapore International Arbitration Centre, 2016. This includes an injunction prohibiting the respondents from taking any action in furtherance or aid of the Board Resolution passed by FRL’s Board of Directors on August 29, 2020, relating to the Disputed Transaction. It stated that, without prejudice to any present Promoter Lenders’ rights, the Respondents are prohibited from directly or indirectly transferring, disposing, alienating, or encumbering FRL’s Retail Assets.
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