Future Retail insolvency process gets 90-day extension
The Mumbai bench of the NCLT has granted the exclusion of 90 days from the Corporate Insolvency Resolution Process (CIRP) of Future Retail (FRL), and extended the deadline for completion of the CIRP from 16 April 2023 to 15 July 2023.
The resolution professional of the Future Retail – Vijaykumar V Iyer – had on 12 April 2023 filed an application in this regard, the company said in an exchange filing.
It is to be mentioned here that the resolution professional had recently moved NCLT requesting access to the inaccessible stores and warehouses of FRL.
Reliance Retail Ventures, a Reliance Industries’ entity, has taken control over 835 stores of the Future Retail in 2022 after it failed to pay Rs 250 crore lease rentals to Reliance group. In 2021, FRL terminated its leases with existing landlords and enter into arrangements with the Reliance group for operating retail stores. Future Retail has over 1,200 stores across 391 cities in the country.
As many as 49 companies have shown interest in acquiring Future Retail through the Corporate Insolvency Resolution Process (CIRP). Among the 49 firms, Reliance Retail Ventures, Adani Group-backed April Moon Retail, Jindal Power, UK-based WHSmith Travel are some of the big firms vying for Future Retail, which owned brands like Big Bazaar.
Stressed asset investment funds like UV Stressed Asset Management and a consortium of Payard Investments Pvt Ltd and Gordon Brothers International LLC have also submitted their Expression of Interest. JC Flowers Asset Reconstruction Private Ltd has also submitted its EoI, the last date of which was 7th April 2022.
The Mumbai bench of the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) on 20 June 2022 admitted Bank of India’s plea to initiate corporate insolvency resolution process (CIRP) against Future Retail for defaulting on a payment of Rs 856 crore.
Financial creditors of FRL have submitted claims of ₹21,450 crore under the ongoing corporate insolvency resolution process (CIRP).
As many as 33 banks have submitted these claims with Bank of New York Mellon submitting the largest claim of Rs 4,670 crore followed by Bank of Baroda (Rs 2,286 crore) and Union Bank of India (2,002 crore).
Also Read: Resolution professional seeks access to ‘inaccessible’ stores, warehouses of Future Retail
