Future Group urges Singapore court to review ruling in Amazon case

Future Group, which is embroiled in a legal battle with Amazon, has reportedly moved the Singapore Arbitration Court (SIAC) urging to review its October ruling and exclude Future Retail Ltd (FRL) from the order.

The Group, in an application, has sought an interim stay on the emergency arbitration order and removal of Future Retail from the scope of the order till the final outcome is decided.

"Future Group has realised that due to the Singapore court's order, Future Retail cannot proceed with the deal with Reliance Industries Ltd," a report in Livemint noted.

Future Group's appeal to exclude Future Retail from SIAC's order is aimed at saving the Big Bazaar retail chain from collapsing. The Kishore Biyani group claimed that Amazon's deal is with Future Coupons and not with Future Retail, therefore, they have not violated any contract.

On October 25, the Singapore court had ruled in favour of Amazon and passed an interim order that put the RIL-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.

On August 29, 2020, Future Group announced the Rs 24,713-crore sale of its retail and wholesale assets to Reliance Retail Ltd, a unit of RIL.  Before that, in August 2019, Amazon 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 rivals RIL as it indirectly owned about 3.5 per cent stake in Future Retail.

The Future Group's plea has come at a time when the Delhi High Court is set to pronounce its interim order on Thursday. In January this year, Amazon had moved the Delhi High Court challenging Future Group's asset sale to RIL on the grounds that it violated a contract that Kishore Biyani entered with Amazon. The Delhi HC had upheld the emergency arbitration award from Singapore that was in favour of Amazon's and ordered a status quo.

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