Shares in Future Group companies fell as much as 10% on Friday after Delhi High Court blocked its founder and chief executive officer from selling his personal assets, in a setback to the group's Rs 24,713-crore deal deal with Mukesh Ambani's Reliance Industries Ltd.
Shares of Future Retail fell as much as 10% on Friday morning to Rs 55.90. Other group companies including Future Consumer Ltd, Future Lifestyle Fashions Ltd and Future Enterprises Ltd were also down between 8% and 10%.
Amazon.com Inc is locked in a legal dispute with Future, saying it allegedly violated certain contracts by selling its retail assets. Future denies any wrongdoing.
The twists and turns in the case has made two of the world's richest men, Amazon's Jeff Bezos and Reliance's Ambani, lock horns as both fight for a bigger share of India's retail market.
"Such a long drawn-out deal involving a company in urgent need of funds is not healthy," Kumar Rajagopalan, chief executive, Retailers Association of India (RAI) told Reuters.
"Thousands of employees and a large number of small and medium enterprise vendors get impacted, and at an industry level the whole retail ecosystem is disturbed."
Future Group, the country's second-largest retailer with more than 2000 retail stores and supermarkets including Big Bazaar and Foodhall in its portfolio, has warned it could face liquidation if the deal with Reliance does not go through.
(Published 19 March 2021, 06:26 IST)
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