NEW DELHI (Reuters) – Indian stock exchanges on Wednesday gave the $ 3.4 billion deal by Future Group to sell its retail assets, a further step towards closing a deal that has aggravated its ties with its trading partner Amazon.com Inc.
Future and Amazon are locked in legal trouble by the August Indian group’s deal with Reliance Industries. The American e-commerce giant alleges that the deal breached some of its pre-existing contracts with Future.
In the night’s notifications, Indian stock exchanges said they had no objections or adverse remarks on the deal, saying they had made the decision after contacting India’s market regulator, the Securities and Exchange Board. of India (SEBI).
SEBI has reported that Future should share various details of the company’s ongoing proceedings with Amazon as it approaches the National Company Law Court of India, which must also sign the agreement, the notification of the Bombay Stock Exchange.
SEBI has not made its observations public.
Reliance and Future did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The notifications will be a setback for Amazon, which in recent weeks has repeatedly written letters to SEBI and stock exchanges to suspend review of the deal.
Amazon has also dragged Future before a Singapore arbitrator, who passed an interim order in October saying the dependency deal should be stopped. Future says order doesn’t force it.
Following the assent of the exchanges, Amazon in a statement said it would continue to seek legal remedies to enforce its rights, noting that approvals were subject to the outcome of the ongoing arbitration process and other lawsuits.
The outcome of the dispute surrounding Future, Reliance and Amazon is shaping India’s retail landscape, especially when deciding who will emerge as the leader in a food market that is expected to have a value of about $ 740 billion a year in 2024.
Reports of Aditya Kalra in New Delhi; Edited by Euan Rocha and Steve Orlofsky