The Supreme Court has halted regulatory approval for the Future Group’s $3.4 billion asset sale to Reliance Industries Ltd., effectively putting the deal on a stop. This represents another win for Amazon.com Inc., which wants to hurry the transaction in its attempt to control and dominate the country’s retail sector.
Agreeing with the Jeff Bezos-led American e-commerce company’s petition, the apex court on Monday overturned a lower court’s ruling and stopped India’s company tribunal from approving the transaction till further orders. The court sent out notices to Future Retail Ltd. requesting written statements on Amazon’s petition. Justice Rohinton F. Nariman whose the primary in the two-judge panel said that the court will hear the case again after five-week.
The latest verdict returns the dee legal advantage for the online company Amazon that secured an interim stay on the deal from a Singapore arbitration tribunal in October after claiming the Future Group violated a partnership contract when it agreed to sell assets to billionaire Mukesh Ambani’s conglomerate Reliance Industries, last year. But the Monday order puts Future Retail Ltd. at risk as they struggling to pay the debt and have been warned of insolvency.
Reliance Industries shares fell by 2% at ₹2035 while Future Retail’s were down 2.6% to ₹74.15 in noon trade.
