M&A

M&A

SC rules in favour of Amazon; halts Rs.24,713-Cr Future Group-Reliance deal

India Today  

The Supreme Court has ruled in favour of e-commerce giant Amazon.com after it had filed a plea against the INR 24,713 crore deal for the merger of Future Retail Limited (FRL) with Reliance Retail. The top court bench stated that the emergency award is enforceable under Indian laws and upheld the Delhi High Court judgement passed earlier. Amazon.com NV Investment Holdings LLC and FRL have been engaged in a bitter legal fight over the deal and the US-base firm had filed a plea in the Supreme Court, stating that the Singapore Emergency Arbitrator (EA) award — which restrained FRL from going ahead with the merger — was valid and enforceable. Amazon had earlier moved the top court against the Delhi HC's division bench order which cleared the way for the Reliance-FRL deal. The division bench stayed the single-judge direction to FRL and various authorities to maintain the status quo on the deal on February 8. The interim direction was passed on FRL's appeal challenging the February 2 order of the single judge which had ruled in favour of the US firm saying that the EA's award was valid and enforceable.