The Delhi High Court upheld the order by Singapore International Arbitration Centre prohibiting Future Retail from going ahead with its deal with Reliance Retail. Singapore's Emergency Arbitrator (EA) had restrained the Rs 24,713-crore acquisition deal against a plea by global retail major Amazon.
The bench of Justice JR Midha held that Kishore Biyani-led Future Group wilfully violated Singapore Arbitrator's order and directed it not to take further any action on the deal, reported PTI.
Biyani and directors of his company have been ordered to be present before the Delhi High Court at the next hearing. The court asked them to show cause as to why they shouldn't be detained for three months in a civil prison for violating the emergency arbitrator's order.
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The court ordered attachment of properties of Biyani and others related to the Future Group. It also imposed Rs 20 lakh cost on Future Group and its directors and ordered that the amount should be deposited in Prime Minister's Relief Fund for providing COVID-19 vaccines to senior citizens of Below Poverty Line (BPL) category.
On August 29, 2020, Future Group announced the Rs 24,713-crore sale of its retail and wholesale assets to Reliance Retail Ltd, the retail subsidiary of Reliance Industries (RIL). A year before, in August 2019, Amazon had bought 49 per cent stake in Future Coupons for Rs 1,500 crore. The world's largest e-commerce giant says that the 2019 deal blocks Future Group from selling shares of Future Retail to rival RIL as it indirectly owned about 3.5 per cent stake in Future Retail.
On October 25, 2020, the Singapore arbitration court had ruled in favour of Amazon and passed an interim order that put the Rs 24,713-crore Reliance Industries-Future deal on hold. The Court had written to BSE and SEBI to uphold the decision. Besides, Amazon had sent a legal notice to Future Coupons over its deal with Reliance.
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