The Supreme Court (SC) has stopped regulatory approval for the Future Group’s $3.4 billion asset sale to Reliance Industries Ltd, effectively halting the deal and marking another victory for e-commerce giant Amazon, which wants to scuttle the transaction in its bid to dominate the country’s retail sector.
In a blow to Reliance and Future Retail, the SC on Monday sought responses from the Kishore Biyani-led company and others on Amazon’s plea against the Delhi High Court direction to maintain the “status quo” on the Future-Reliance deal. A bench comprising Justices R.F. Nariman and B.R. Gavai issued notices to Future Retail, Kishore Biyani and others, and sought their replies in the next three weeks.
The apex court bench said that the proceedings before the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) will go on, but will not culminate into “any final order on the amalgamation of FRL with Reliance”. The bench listed the case for hearing after five weeks.
Amazon has opposed the deal between Future and RIL, and it has already won international arbitration in Singapore on this. E-commerce giant had also moved the High Court seeking action against Future’s Kishore Biyani for violating the agreement an agreement, which barred it from dealing with RIL in any manner.
Amazon had moved the SC against the Future-Reliance Retail deal. On 8 February, the Delhi High Court had stayed the implementation of status quo ordered by a single-judge bench on the Rs 24,713-crore deal between Future Retail Ltd and Reliance. The e-commerce company has challenged this Delhi High Court Division Bench order, which stayed the implementation of the “status quo” on the deal.