India's Reliance, Adani among 49 bidders for debt-ridden Future Retail

Future Enterprises

10/04/2023 13:44

BENGALURU, April 10 (Reuters) - Companies led by Indian
billionaires Gautam Adani and Mukesh Ambani, a British retailer
and global asset reconstruction firms are among the 49 entities
in the fray to acquire Future Retail Ltd  FRTL.NS , the
debt-laden Indian retailer said on Monday.
    Reliance Retail, part of Ambani's Reliance Industries Ltd
 RELI.NS  as well as April Moon Retail Pvt Ltd, a joint venture
between Flemingo group and Gautam Adani-led Adani Airport
Holdings, have submitted expressions of interest (EoIs), an
exchange filing by Future Retail showed.
    Other entities that have submitted EOIs include London-based
retailer WH Smith  SMWH.L , a consortium led by U.S.-based
restructuring firm Gordon Brothers, J.C. Flowers Asset
Reconstruction, India's Jindal Power, and individual investor
Harsha Vardhan Reddy.
    Future Retail's court-appointed resolution professional held
a second round of EoIs since the first did not have enough
participants, the Economic Times daily reported.
    Future Retail, once India's second-largest retailer, was
dragged into bankruptcy proceedings by banks after it defaulted
on loans and its lenders also rejected a $3.4 billion buyout by
Reliance amid a legal challenge by Amazon.com Inc  AMZN.O .
    Reliance Retail, Jindal Power, J.C. Flowers, WH Smith and
Gordon Brothers did not immediately respond to emails seeking
comment.

 (Reporting by Anuran Sadhu in Bengaluru; Editing by Savio
D'Souza)
 ((Anuran.Sadhu@thomsonreuters.com; +91 8697274436;))