Amazon row: FRL says not every development ‘material event for disclosure’




Kishore Biyani-led Ltd on Thursday accused e-commerce giant of adopting a media strategy of “having every development reported and converted into a line of communication with stock exchanges” regarding the Amazon-Future Coupons’ arbitration proceedings in Singapore.


The Court of Singapore International Arbitration Centre (SIAC) had turned down a plea of Ltd (FRL) to be excluded from being a party to arbitration.


In a regulatory filing disclosing the development, FRL said,”…this disclosure is being made out of abundant caution to avoid any speculation given Amazon’s media strategy of having every development reported and converted into a line of communication with stock exchanges.”

FRL said it is “in receipt of a communication dated 25th November, 2020 that the SIAC Court is prima facie satisfied that under Rule 28.1 of the SIAC Rules 2016, the arbitration shall proceed.”






Accordingly, “an arbitrary tribunal would be constituted in the matter. Every stage of the proceedings would not lend itself to being a material event for disclosure…”, it added.


An e-mailed query sent to on the matter remained unanswered.


Last year in August, had bought 49 per cent in one of Kishore Biyani-led Future Group’s unlisted firms — Future Coupons Ltd (FCL) — with the right to buy into the listed flagship FRL after a few years, if the government were to undo its bar on foreign ownership of multi-brand retailers.


However, as FRL ran into a severe cash crunch soon after the nationwide lockdown imposed to curb the coronavirus outbreak it cut a deal with Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) to sell its assets for Rs 24,713 crore.


Subsequently, Amazon dragged Future to arbitration at SIAC claiming that its contract with the unlisted FCL barred a transaction with a number of persons and companies, including Reliance.


Amazon has also written to markets regulator Sebi and stock exchanges, urging them to take into consideration the Singapore arbitrator’s interim judgement that has put on hold the Rs 24,713-crore deal between Future Group and RIL while reviewing the proposed transaction.


Last week, the Competition Commission of India (CCI) cleared the deal.


FRL has already moved Delhi High Court seeking “reliefs” against Amazon from “interfering” with its RIL deal and alleged that the e-commerce giant was “misusing” an interim order passed by the Singapore arbitrator. Last week, the Delhi High Court reserved its order on the application.

(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)

Dear Reader,

Business Standard has always strived hard to provide up-to-date information and commentary on developments that are of interest to you and have wider political and economic implications for the country and the world. Your encouragement and constant feedback on how to improve our offering have only made our resolve and commitment to these ideals stronger. Even during these difficult times arising out of Covid-19, we continue to remain committed to keeping you informed and updated with credible news, authoritative views and incisive commentary on topical issues of relevance.

We, however, have a request.

As we battle the economic impact of the pandemic, we need your support even more, so that we can continue to offer you more quality content. Our subscription model has seen an encouraging response from many of you, who have subscribed to our online content. More subscription to our online content can only help us achieve the goals of offering you even better and more relevant content. We believe in free, fair and credible journalism. Your support through more subscriptions can help us practise the journalism to which we are committed.

Support quality journalism and subscribe to Business Standard.

Digital Editor





Source link

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *