Future Retail Ltd (FRL) has filed a writ petition before the Delhi High Court seeking to halt the proceedings in Amazon's case at the Singapore International Arbitration Centre (SIAC), the supermarket company said in a regulatory filing on January 3.
Amazon and Future group are locked in a legal battle at the tribunal over the latter's bid to sell its physical stores and warehouses to Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL), in a proposed Rs 24,500 crore deal.
The plea before the Delhi HC was moved by FRL days after the Singapore arbitration tribunal, in an order issued on December 29, refused Future's request seeking the termination of the arbitration proceedings.
"This petition seeks to assail the impugned orders passed by a Delhi seated arbitral tribunal in said arbitration proceedings," FRL informed the stock exchanges.
Amazon, which had gained a toehold in Future group in 2019 through a $200-million deal to acquire stake in its gift voucher unit - Future Coupons Pvt Ltd (FCPL), has alleged breach of contract through the proposed Reliance-FRL deal.
Future's latest move aimed at termination of proceedings at SIAC comes in the backdrop of the suspension of its 2019 deal with Amazon by the Competition Commission of India (CCI).
The antitrust regulator, in an order issued on December 17, said it was revoking its clearance to the Amazon-FCPL deal as the American e-commerce giant had concealed information.
Amazon suppressed “the actual purpose and particulars” of the 2019 deal and sought to “establish false representation and suppression of material facts”, the CCI said, adding that it was now “necessary to examine” the deal afresh and its approval "shall remain in abeyance" until then.
According to Future group, the arbitration proceedings lack legal grounds as the 2019 deal with FCPL, which Amazon used to block the Reliance-FRL deal, has been struck down by the CCI.
For Amazon, the suspension of arbitration proceedings would be a major setback, as it would allow Future Retail to proceed with its planned sale of assets to RIL. The e-commerce giant and Reliance are competing to increase their share in India’s billion-plus consumer market.
Disclaimer: Moneycontrol is a part of the Network18 group. Network18 is controlled by Independent Media Trust, of which Reliance Industries is the sole beneficiary.Future Retail moves Delhi HC seeking to halt Amazon's case at Singapore arbitration tribunal - Moneycontrol
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