Future Group files caveat petitions against Amazon in Delhi High Court

MUMBAI: The Future Group on Monday filed two caveat petitions in the Delhi High Court against Amazon, anticipating that the US ecommerce giant could approach the court over the Indian group’s deal to sell its retail assets to Reliance Industries. The caveat is filed to ensure that if Amazon files a case over the deal, the Kishore Biyani-promoted group gets a chance to be heard before the court passes any order.
ET has seen copies of the petitions filed by two Future Group companies.

This comes even as the Singapore International Arbitration Center (SIAC) had in an interim ruling last month directed the Future Group to put the proposal to sell the retail business to Reliance on hold until it gives a final judgement on a plea filed by Amazon.

The US online company had approached the SIAC claiming that the Future Group breached a contract under which Amazon had acquired an indirect stake in its retail business in 2019. The proposed deal between Future Retail and Reliance does not have its approval and hence should not go through, Amazon had said.

In August, Reliance Retail Ventures, a unit of RIL, agreed to buy the retail assets of the Future Group in a deal that would see five listed entities, including Future Retail, folded into Future Enterprises, which currently houses the group’s retail back-end infrastructure.