MUMBAI: Future Group has convened a meeting of its shareholders and creditors next month to approve the sale of Future Retail’s assets to Reliance Industries (RIL), after getting directions from the NCLT for the same.
Some of the group companies such as Future Consumer and Future Market Networks in updates to the exchanges said a meeting of the shareholders was fixed for April 20 and that for secured and unsecured creditors had been fixed for April 21.
RIL and Future in August 2020 had reached a deal whereby the former agreed to buy the retail, logistics and warehouse assets of the Future group for Rs 24,713 crore.
The deal was stalled by Amazon on the ground that it violated certain contractual agreements it had entered into while purchasing a stake in Future Coupons, a Future group promoter entity, which gave the e-comm giant an indirect 3.58 per cent stake in Future Retail.
After several rounds of legal battles, the SC on February 15 , 2022 directed NCLT to pass an order on whether a meeting of Future shareholders could be convened to approve the deal.
The NCLT on February 28 passed an order allowing the Company to conduct the meetings of its Shareholders and Creditors seeking their approval for the deal while dismissing Amazon’s application against the same.
Interestingly, the decision to convene the shareholder meetings comes in the wake of Future group and Amazon trying to resolve their differences over the deal by March 15, as per an SC order, which gave them 10 days to thrash out a solution.
Meanwhile, the Bombay HC set aside a lower court order restraining Future Enterprises Limited (FEL) from selling its stake in Future Generali India Insurance Company to its JV partner Generali group. The ex-parte order was passed in a suit filed by IDBI Trusteeship Services Ltd against FEL, as it had subscribed to FEL debentures worth Rs 1070 crore on behalf of its bondholders.
