MUMBAI: As many as 49 firms including Reliance Retail, Adani Group-backed April Moon Retail, Jindal Power, UK-based travel retailer WH Smith Travel, JC Flowers have submitted expressions of interest (EoIs) to acquire debt-ridden Future Retail Ltd (FRL), which is going through the insolvency resolution process
The firms expressed interest after the resolution professional, Vijay Iyer of Deloitte, invited interested parties to submit a resolution plan for FRL, which has a debt of over Rs 20,000 crore. April Moon Retail is a joint venture between Flemingo Group and Adani Airport Holdings. Along with big names, some recycling and scrap dealing firms have also joined the race to acquire FRL. EoIs were also invited in November last year, but the companies who were shortlisted didn’t submit any resolution plan.
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 April 13, 2023,” said FRL in a regulatory filing.
FRL shares hit upper circuit on Monday and closed up 5 per cent at Rs 2.58 apiece. 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 (NCLT) on July 2022 directed to initiate insolvency against FRL.
Kishore Biyani had withdrawn his resignation as the executive Chairman and director of the company. He had tendered his resignation on January 23, 2023. Resolution professional, last month, filed an application before the NCLT against the former and present directors of the firm for causing a loss of Rs 14,809.44 crore to creditors and sought a direction against present and former FRL directors to contribute the amount to the firm.
FRL was part of the 19 Future Group firms operating in 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.