MUMBAI: Reliance Industries has taken over the operations of 200 stores from Future Retail (FRL), after the company failed to meet the lease rental obligations on the stores to the landlords, sources have said.
The oil-to-telecom conglomerate reportedly transferred the leases of some of these stores to Reliance Retail Ventures, which, in turn, has sublet them to FRL to operate. Employees of the cash-strapped Future Retail’s Big Bazaar stores have received offers from Reliance Retail, which is also reportedly rebranding some of the stores.
The development comes amid a legal battle between FRL and its partner Amazon, which has opposed a Rs 24,713-crore deal between FRL and RIL, on the ground that it allegedly breaches certain contractual agreements between the two. A Singapore arbitrator has ruled in favour of Amazon, which drove FRL to move the Indian courts against the same.
For FRL, the deal with RIL will reportedly enable it to meet its debt obligations to banks, which have classified FRL’s account as an NPA and asked it to submit a viable resolution plan. A consortium of 27 lenders had earlier this month proposed in the Supreme Court that RIL and Amazon openly bid for FRL above the reserve price of Rs 17,000 crore, which is what was owed to them.
The higher of the two bids should win the FRL assets. The inventory at the 200 stores has been provided by Reliance Jiomart after FRL has failed to pay its existing suppliers.
(With inputs from PTI)