Reliance Retail, Adani Group withdraw from race for Future Retail, says report

Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Retail and Gautam Adani-led Adani Group are no longer bidding for Future Retail (FRL), which was referred to the insolvency tribunal last April. According to a report on ET Now, six final bids have been received for Future Retail, which doesn’t involve Reliance Retail and Adani Group.

As per the report, the highest bid is from Space Mantra, while five other companies have placed their bid for parts of the company. These companies are Pinnacle Air, Palgun Tech LLC, Lehar Solutions, Goodwill Furniture and Sarvabhishta e-waste management.

Last month, Future Retail received approval from the bankruptcy court to extend the date to complete its resolution process by another 90 days to July 15. The earlier deadline was April 16.

The Mumbai bench of the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) granted the exclusion of 90 days from the Corporate Insolvency Resolution Process, the company said in a stock exchange update.

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On March 23, creditors of FRL invited new Expressions of Interest (EoIs) whereby prospective buyers can bid for the debt-ridden firm "as a going concern or individual cluster or a combination of clusters of its assets", as it failed to attract a resolution plan in more than four months.

On April 10, Future Retail said it has received 49 expressions of interest from prospective resolution applicants, including from Reliance Industries, Adani Group and Jindal Power, to acquire its assets through the ongoing insolvency process.

Following FRL lenders invited fresh bids, Mukesh Ambani expressed his interest through Reliance Retail Ventures, the holding company of all its retail businesses, and Adani Group expressed its interest through April Moon Retail, which is a joint venture between Adani Airports and Flemingo Group.

Future Retail, with famous brands like Big Bazaar, Easyday, and Foodhall under its belt, operated multiple retail formats in both the hypermarket supermarket and home segments. 

At its peak, Future Retail was operating more than 1,500 outlets in nearly 430 cities.

The Corporate Insolvency Resolution Process (CIRP) was initiated against FRL by its lender Bank of India following loan defaults. Under the Insolvency & Bankruptcy Code, EoI was invited from prospective bidders on October 4, 2022.

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