Future Group has allegedly claimed that eCommerce giant Amazon has requested $40 million to drop its “right of first refusal” to buy the Indian retailer’s assets in Future Retail.
Abhijeet Mazumdar, head of company improvement and personal investments at Amazon, had made a verbal supply to Future Group promoter Kishore Biyani on behalf of the Amazon, asking for “$40 million as compensation in exchange for the Future Group and Reliance proceeding with the disputed transaction,” said Future Retail in submission with emergency arbitrator Singapore International Arbitration Centre (SIAC).
Future Group and Amazon are yet to respond to The Times of India’s queries, the report said.
Amazon and Future Group are in a legal dispute over the sale of the Future Group’s retail, logistics and warehousing assets to Reliance Retail Ventures (RRVL), a unit of Reliance Industries, for Rs 24,713 crore.
Amazon owns a 49 per cent stake in Future Coupons and has challenged the Future Group-Reliance Retail deal, claiming it did not consent to such a transaction.
Amazon, which in 2019 had purchased a 49% stake in Future Coupons, an unlisted firm of the Future Group with a proper to purchase into flagship Future Retail after an interval of three-to-five years, went to SIAC in October, pleading the deal be cancelled because it had the correct of first refusal.
