Future Retail Surges After Exchange Letter on Reliance Deal

(Bloomberg) -- Future Retail Ltd.’s dollar bond jumped and shares rose after a Mumbai-based stock exchange said it had no negative views on certain topics regarding Reliance Industries Ltd.’s 247.1 billion rupee ($3.4 billion) acquisition of the indebted retailer.

The company’s note due January 2025 surged 9.4 cents on the dollar to 89.5 cents, climbing the most in over four months after nine straight sessions of losses, according to Bloomberg-compiled prices. Its shares advanced as much as 5.9%, the most in about two months.

The letter dated Jan. 20 from the BSE Ltd. said that based on comment from the Securities and Exchange Board of India, the BSE “has no adverse observations” to matters having a bearing on the planned acquisition.

The proposed deal is key for Future Retail to survive a hit from the fallout of the coronavirus pandemic. India’s antitrust regulator had already approved the acquisition in November, but Future’s partner Amazon.com Inc. had called for it to be blocked, saying that it violated its contract with the company.

Read why Amazon is feuding with a retailer acquired by Ambani

©2021 Bloomberg L.P.