Future Retail Asks India Regulator to Quash Amazon Deal Approval
Future Retail Ltd.’s independent directors have urged India’s antitrust body to revoke its approval of a 2019 deal.
(Bloomberg) -- Future Retail Ltd.’s independent directors have urged India’s antitrust body to revoke its approval of a 2019 deal between one of its group companies and an Amazon.com Inc. unit, saying the American retailer lied to the regulator.
Amazon obtained the Competition Commission of India’s approval for its purchase of 49% of Future Coupons Pvt. with an option to buy all or part of its shares in Future Retail by “making deliberate misrepresentations and by actively misleading the CCI,” Future Retail’s independent director Ravindra Dhariwal said in a letter to the body earlier this month, according to an exchange filing Sunday.
A spokesperson for Amazon India declined to comment.
In August last year, the Mumbai-based Future Group agreed to sell its retail assets to Amazon rival Reliance Industries Ltd. for $3.4 billion. The U.S. e-commerce giant says Future violated a partnership contract with the asset sale to its rival and wants to scuttle it, while the indebted Indian group says it would collapse if the transaction fails.
An arbitration court in Singapore rejected Future Retail’s plea to lift a stay on its sale to Reliance, giving Amazon more grounds to seek stricter measures from Indian courts.
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