India’s richest businessman Mukesh Ambani has suddenly become a topic of intense conversations on the internet. However, this had nothing to do with Mumbai Indians’ defeat at the hands of Rajasthan Royals in the IPL. The key reasons was Reliance issuing a hard-hitting response after e-commerce giant Amazon winning an interim award against its partner Future Group on Sunday. The order by the Singapore-based arbitration court meant that Kishore Biyani’s Future Group will not be able to sell its retail business to Reliance Industries as agreed for Rs. 24,713 crore.
Reacting to the development, Reliance Industries issued a hard-hitting statement saying it intended complete the transaction with Future Group without any delay.
“Reliance Retail Ventures Limited (RRVL) is informed of an interim order passed by the Emergency Arbitrator in the arbitration proceedings invoked by Amazon under a shareholders’ agreement with the promoters of Future Group. RRVL has entered into the transaction for acquisition of assets and business of Future Retail Limited under proper legal advice and the rights and obligations are fully enforceable under Indian Law. RRVL intends to enforce its rights and complete the transaction in terms of the scheme and agreement with Future group without any delay,” the statement by Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance said.
Amazon has, however, welcomed the interim order. News agency PTI quoted one of its spokespersons as saying, “We welcome the award of the Emergency Arbitrator. We are grateful for the order which grants all the reliefs that were sought. We remain committed to an expeditious conclusion of the arbitration process.”
The deal between Reliance and Future Group would have given unparalleled dominance to Mukesh Ambani-led company had the arbitration court not put this on hold. Amazon believes Future Group violated the contract by entering into the deal with rival Reliance.
Quoting sources, PTI reported that Amazon team was represented by Gopal Subramanium, Gourab Banerji, Amit Sibal and Alvin Yeo, while the Future Group had hired Harish Salve as its lawyer.
