Future’s petition to terminate arbitration proceedings in Singapore is dismissed by Delhi High Court
On Tuesday, the Delhi High Court dismissed two petitions filed by Future Coupons Pvt Ltd (FCPL) and Future Retail Ltd (FRL) seeking to quash the arbitration proceedings initiated by Amazon at the Singapore International Arbitration Centre (SIAC).
In Singapore, the tribunal declined to hear Future Group’s request for termination of the a
The two companies are embroiled in a bitter legal tussle after Amazon filed a claim at the Singapore International Arbitration Centre, alleging that FRL violated their contract by entering into a slump sale deal with Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Retail for Rs 24,500 crore.
Reliance Retail Ventures Ltd, a subsidiary of Reliance Industries Ltd, and the Future Group announced a deal in August 2020 for the sale of the retail and wholesale businesses and the logistics and warehousing segment. Its e-commerce giant, Amazon, is fighting the deal through its 49 per cent stake in FCPL, which owns Future Retail.
Through this deal, the Competition Commission of India (CCI), in an unprecedented move, revisited its two-year-old approval granted to Amazon for the acquisition of Future Coupons, a company through which Amazon claims rights over Future Retail. Earlier this month, the CCI suspended its approval of Amazon’s acquisition of Future Coupons Pvt Ltd and imposed a Rs 202-crore fine on the company for certain violations.
The EA (Emergency Arbitrator) passed an interim award in favour of Amazon in October 2020, which barred FRL from disposing of or encumbering its assets, or from issuing securities to secure funding from any restricted party. SIAC upheld this last month and said FRL is a party to the ongoing arbitration between Amazon and Future Group in the dispute over its sale of assets to Reliance Retail.
There is a dispute regarding this matter before the Singapore International Arbitration Centre (SIAC) and the Supreme Court of Singapore. The deadline for Reliance Retail Ventures to complete its Rs 24,713-crore deal with Future group was extended for a second time to March 31, 2022, because it is still awaiting regulatory and judicial approvals.
