Future Retail’s appeal to end Singapore arbitration initiated by Amazon has been turned down

• Future Retail sought termination of arbitration proceedings in Singapore that passed judgement in favour of Amazon.
• The development comes after the CCI revoked its clearance to Amazon’s 2019 deal with Future Coupons.
• The deal had set ground for Amazon’s disapproval of Reliance Industries- Future Group deal.

The Delhi high court had dismissed the petition filed by Future Retail, seeking termination of the arbitration proceedings in Singapore that passed judgement in favour of Amazon.

Kishore Biyani had approached the Delhi High Court after a favourable verdict from the Competition Commission of India (CCI) that revoked its approval given to Amazon’s purchase of 49% stake in Future Coupon (a subsidiary of Future Group) back in 2019.

It was through this deal, the American e-commerce giant got a 3% stake in Future Retail.

Not just the CCI, even the National Company Law Tribunal had allowed Future Group to seek the approval of its shareholders to sell the retail unit to Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Industries for ₹24,715 crore.

Amazon’s contention is that its agreement with Future Group had clearly mentioned that Future Group cannot sell its retail assets, or engage in any business with 11 companies, including Reliance.

However, according to Amazon Future Group decided to sell its retail assets and warehouse to Reliance without informing the company led by Jeff Bezos. The Singapore International Arbitration Center (SIAC) considered the Future Reliance deal to be invalid on these grounds.

However, the latest verdict from the Delhi High Court has tilted the scales in favour of Amazon, which has trying to stall Future’s deal with Reliance and wanting to buy out Biyani’s chains like Big Bazaar and Pantaloons to strengthen its presence in India’s ₹779-billion retail sector.

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