Advantage Future Group as HC lifts stay on Reliance deal
Hindustan TimesThe Delhi high court on Monday allowed Kishore Biyani’s Future Retail Ltd to pursue its planned $3.4 billion sale of retail assets to Reliance Industries Ltd, ruling that US online retailer Amazon.com Inc. had prima facie no reason to stall the deal. A bench of Chief Justice DN Patel and Justice Jyoti Singh stayed a February 2 order by a single judge of the high court that Future Retail maintain status quo {existing state} on its assets, barring the company from taking any steps to dispose of or encumber its assets or issuing any securities to seek any funding against them. The judges rejected a plea by Amazon to keep its order in abeyance for a week, and said they saw no reason to maintain status quo on the Future Retail assets.The single judge bench had ordered the status quo on an appeal by Amazon, which said the planned sale was in violation of an agreement it had with the Kishore Biyani group. The bench noted that Amazon was not a party to the deal between Future Retail and Reliance Industries, controlled by India’s richest man Mukesh Ambani, and has no reason to seek status quo. On February 2, a single judge of the Delhi high court granted interim relief to Amazon and asked Future Retail not to dispose of its retail assets, The single judge also directed authorities like Sebi and National Company Law Tribunal to maintain status quo on the deal.