New Delhi: Several employees at Kishore Biyani-led Future Retail (FRL) Stores including Big Bazaar have started receiving offer letters Reliance RetailAsked him to join a subsidiary of the oil-to-telecom conglomerate.
This step has been taken amidst a protracted legal battle with heroineis seen as a “takeover” bid by Mukesh Ambani Reliance Industries that are keen to grab a major share of the retail and e-commerce market.
The development may include replacing the signage of Big Bazaar and branding with Reliance from these stores, senior officials close to the development told TOI. This means that Reliance will operate these stores without the Big Bazaar branding.
Unable to clear dues to landlords, the FRL store was taken over by Reliance and then subletted to a Biyani-run entity to operate under its own brands. In addition, most of the goods at these stores were being supplied by Reliance Jiomart Due to cash crunch, FRL could not clear the dues to the existing suppliers.
Emails sent to the spokespersons of Reliance Retail and FRL on Friday evening remained unanswered at the time of going to press.
FRL has received letters from Reliance Projects and Asset Management Services to vacate several stores for non-payment. While some of these stores remained closed, notices on entryways read “Stock taking in progress – Stores will remain closed”. TOI has reviewed the letters and notices.
The development comes even as FRL and Amazon are embroiled in a legal battle, the former over a proposed sale of assets worth around Rs 25,000 crore to Reliance.
Amazon and FRL are embroiled in an 18-month-long dispute with cases pending before the Supreme Court, the Delhi High Court, the Singapore International Arbitration Center (SIAC) and the NCLAT. FRL is also looking towards bankruptcy as it failed to pay loans of Rs 3,500 crore to its creditors as on December 31. FRL, which counts State Bank of India (SBI) and Bank of India (BoI) among its largest lenders, is at Rs. 9,119 crore for repayment of interest and principal by March 2022.
In 2019, Amazon had acquired 49% in an unlisted Future Group entity, FCPL, for Rs 1,500 crore. Since FCPL had around 10% stake in FRL, the e-tailer claimed that it gave it rights over the latter. Subsequently, when the Future-Reliance deal was announced, Amazon dragged FRL to a Singapore arbitration court for alleged breach of contracts.
This step has been taken amidst a protracted legal battle with heroineis seen as a “takeover” bid by Mukesh Ambani Reliance Industries that are keen to grab a major share of the retail and e-commerce market.
The development may include replacing the signage of Big Bazaar and branding with Reliance from these stores, senior officials close to the development told TOI. This means that Reliance will operate these stores without the Big Bazaar branding.
Unable to clear dues to landlords, the FRL store was taken over by Reliance and then subletted to a Biyani-run entity to operate under its own brands. In addition, most of the goods at these stores were being supplied by Reliance Jiomart Due to cash crunch, FRL could not clear the dues to the existing suppliers.
Emails sent to the spokespersons of Reliance Retail and FRL on Friday evening remained unanswered at the time of going to press.
FRL has received letters from Reliance Projects and Asset Management Services to vacate several stores for non-payment. While some of these stores remained closed, notices on entryways read “Stock taking in progress – Stores will remain closed”. TOI has reviewed the letters and notices.
The development comes even as FRL and Amazon are embroiled in a legal battle, the former over a proposed sale of assets worth around Rs 25,000 crore to Reliance.
Amazon and FRL are embroiled in an 18-month-long dispute with cases pending before the Supreme Court, the Delhi High Court, the Singapore International Arbitration Center (SIAC) and the NCLAT. FRL is also looking towards bankruptcy as it failed to pay loans of Rs 3,500 crore to its creditors as on December 31. FRL, which counts State Bank of India (SBI) and Bank of India (BoI) among its largest lenders, is at Rs. 9,119 crore for repayment of interest and principal by March 2022.
In 2019, Amazon had acquired 49% in an unlisted Future Group entity, FCPL, for Rs 1,500 crore. Since FCPL had around 10% stake in FRL, the e-tailer claimed that it gave it rights over the latter. Subsequently, when the Future-Reliance deal was announced, Amazon dragged FRL to a Singapore arbitration court for alleged breach of contracts.
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