New Delhi: Supreme court On Friday, Singapore’s Emergency Arbitrator (EA) Award said, Future Retail furthering its merger deal with Reliance Retail, comes within the purview of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act and is enforceable.
The verdict has come as a big win for the e-commerce giant. heroine In the battle for the big Indian market. The US-based company had filed a petition against the merger of Future Retail Limited (frl) with Reliance retail.
The judgment was delivered by an SC bench of Justices RF Nariman and BR Gavai, which had reserved it on July 29 after hearing lawyers including senior advocates Harish Salve and Gopal Subramaniam, appearing for FRL and Amazon respectively.
The decision comes as a blow to Future, the country’s second largest retailer with over 1,700 stores, which last year agreed to sell its retail business to market leader Reliance. However, e-commerce giant Amazon, which eventually had its sights set on owning part of the retail assets, argued that in 2019 with a unit of Future, Future Retail would be sold to anyone on “restricted persons”. withholding clauses included. List including Reliance.
Amazon had first filed a petition before the High Court (single judge) on October 25, 2020 to enforce the EA award by the Singapore International Arbitration Center (SIAC) to restrain FRL from pursuing the deal with Reliance Retail. Had given.
The High Court bench, however, said it was staying the single-judge order as FRL was not a party to the Share Membership Agreement (SSA) between Amazon and FCPL and the US firm was a party to the FRL-Reliance deal. was not.
The FRL, in its appeal, had claimed that if the February 2 order was not stayed, it would be “a complete disaster” for it as the proceedings before the NCLT to clear the amalgamation plan have been stayed. It had argued that the status quo order of the single judge would effectively derail the entire scheme which has been approved by the statutory authorities in accordance with the law.
In August last year, Future Group had entered into an agreement to sell its retail, wholesale, logistics and warehousing units to Reliance. Subsequently, Amazon took FRL to EA before SIAC over alleged breach of contract by Future Group.
(with inputs from agencies)Watch Supreme Court decides in favor of Amazon, upholds Singapore’s order against Reliance-Future retail deal
The verdict has come as a big win for the e-commerce giant. heroine In the battle for the big Indian market. The US-based company had filed a petition against the merger of Future Retail Limited (frl) with Reliance retail.
The judgment was delivered by an SC bench of Justices RF Nariman and BR Gavai, which had reserved it on July 29 after hearing lawyers including senior advocates Harish Salve and Gopal Subramaniam, appearing for FRL and Amazon respectively.
The decision comes as a blow to Future, the country’s second largest retailer with over 1,700 stores, which last year agreed to sell its retail business to market leader Reliance. However, e-commerce giant Amazon, which eventually had its sights set on owning part of the retail assets, argued that in 2019 with a unit of Future, Future Retail would be sold to anyone on “restricted persons”. withholding clauses included. List including Reliance.
Amazon had first filed a petition before the High Court (single judge) on October 25, 2020 to enforce the EA award by the Singapore International Arbitration Center (SIAC) to restrain FRL from pursuing the deal with Reliance Retail. Had given.
The High Court bench, however, said it was staying the single-judge order as FRL was not a party to the Share Membership Agreement (SSA) between Amazon and FCPL and the US firm was a party to the FRL-Reliance deal. was not.
The FRL, in its appeal, had claimed that if the February 2 order was not stayed, it would be “a complete disaster” for it as the proceedings before the NCLT to clear the amalgamation plan have been stayed. It had argued that the status quo order of the single judge would effectively derail the entire scheme which has been approved by the statutory authorities in accordance with the law.
In August last year, Future Group had entered into an agreement to sell its retail, wholesale, logistics and warehousing units to Reliance. Subsequently, Amazon took FRL to EA before SIAC over alleged breach of contract by Future Group.
(with inputs from agencies)Watch Supreme Court decides in favor of Amazon, upholds Singapore’s order against Reliance-Future retail deal
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