India’s top retailer, Reliance, will operate at least 200 stores Future RetailWhich is due to Reliance failing to make lease payments, two people with direct knowledge of the matter told Reuters on Saturday.
Since 2020, Reliance has failed to close a $3.4 billion deal to acquire the retail assets of Future, whose warring partner Amazon.com Inc. has legally blocked the transaction, citing breaches of certain contracts. Is. Future denies any wrongdoing.
Future, Reliance and Amazon did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The acquisition of the store by Reliance signals Future’s deteriorating financial position as the sale of its retail assets remains blocked due to a legal battle. Future challenged its lenders in January in India’s Supreme Court to avoid facing bankruptcy proceedings over missing bank payments, citing its dispute with Amazon.
Future – which has over 1,700 outlets including the popular Big Bazaar stories – has been unable to make lease payments for some of its outlets. As a result, Reliance transferred leases of some stores to its name and sublet them to Future to operate the stores, the sources said.
Read also: Future Retail pays approx 104.55 crore interest on dollar bond in grace period
As Future failed to pay, Reliance has decided to run and rebrand around 200 outlets that would otherwise shut down, he said.
“More than 200 stores will move to Reliance stores,” said a source who did not wish to be named.
In a letter seen by Reuters, Reliance offered new jobs on equal terms to Future employees at these stores. “We welcome you to join our organization,” it reads.
Amazon has argued that Future violated the terms of the 2019 deal, when the US giant invested $200 million in the Future unit. Amazon’s position has been supported by a Singapore arbitrator and Indian courts.
This story has been published without modification in text from a wire agency feed. Only the title has been changed.
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