49 companies including Reliance Retail, Jindal Power, WH Smith show interest in Future Retail assets
MUMBAI: As many as 49 companies including Reliance Retail, JC Flowers, Jindal Power, and UK-based travel retailer WH Smith Travel, have submitted expressions of interest (EoIs) for debt-ridden Future Retail Ltd (FRL), which is going through the insolvency resolution process.
The companies have expressed their interest after the resolution professional, Vijay Iyer of Deloitte, invited interested parties to submit a resolution plan for Future Retail, which runs stores under the Big Bazaar brand.
Any objection regarding the exclusion or inclusion of Prospective Resolution Applicant (PRA) can be submitted by April 13.
“In terms of Regulation 36A(11) of the CIRP Regulations, any objection to inclusion or exclusion of a PRA in the provisional list may be made with supporting documents within five days from the date of issue of the provisional list, i.e. on or before 13th April 2023,” said FRL in a regulatory filing, containing the list of companies that have expressed their interest.
Apart from some big names, some recycling and scrap dealing firms have also submitted expressions of interest.
FRL was dragged into insolvency proceedings by its lender Bank of India after it defaulted on loans. The Mumbai bench of the National Company Law Tribunal on July 2022 directed to initiate insolvency against FRL.
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Last month, a resolution professional filed an application before the National Company Law Tribunal against the former and present directors of the company for causing a loss of Rs 14,809.44 crore to creditors and sought a direction against present and former FRL directors to contribute such amount to the company.
Capital market regulator SEBI, last year in August, ordered a forensic audit of the accounts of FRL for the financial years 2019-20, 2020-21 and 2021-22. It has also asked for an audit of FRL's Related Party Transactions (RPT) with three other Future group firms - Future Enterprises Ltd, Future Consumer Ltd and Future Supply Chain Solutions Ltd.
RPT refers to a deal or arrangement made between two parties related to each other by having a pre-existing business relation or common interest.
FRL was part of the 19 Future group companies operating in the retail, wholesale, logistic and warehousing segments, which were supposed to be transferred to Reliance Retail as part of a Rs 24,713-crore deal announced in August 2020. However, lenders had rejected a Rs 24,713-crore takeover of the 19 Future group companies, including FRL, by Reliance amid a legal challenge by Amazon.