Abhishek Securities

  In the midst of  Reliance Retail  taking over the  Future Group , Kishore Biyani-led company is seeing some of its long-time senior executives abandoning ship. In recent weeks, Vineet Jain, CEO for North, quit the group after 17 years with the company. His southern counterpart Venkateswar Kumar, has also put in his papers, three persons familiar with the development, said. “Venkateshwar is currently serving his notice period,” said one of the persons. Kumar is also a Future Group veteran of more than 15 years with the company. Last month, Jain joined value retailer V-Mart Retail Ltd as the new chief operating officer. Aruni Mishra, business head for general merchandise at Big Bazaar, quit Future Group last month. “People are exiting as how long can you stick around in this uncertainty?” asked another senior official of Future Group who is scheduled to leave the company early next year after more than a decade. A Future Group spokesperson declined to comment on the...

  Reliance Industries (RIL) on November 18 said it has completed the sale of about 10 percent stake in Reliance Retail Ventures Ltd (RRVL), its retail arm, to a clutch of foreign investors for Rs 47,265 crore. The largest fundraise exercise in the sector was completed within two months. Since September 25, the company has sold 10.09 percent stake in RRVL to private equity firms Silver Lake Partners, KKR, GIC, TPG and General Atlantic, as well as sovereign wealth funds Mubadala, Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA) and PIF. "RRVL has received cumulative subscription amount of Rs 47,265 crore from the following financial partners and allotted 69.27 crore equity shares to them," the company said in a statement. Silver Lake Partners bought 2 percent stake in two tranches for Rs 9,375 crore while KKR invested Rs 5,550 crore for 1.19 percent interest. GIC and AIDA each bought 1.18 percent for Rs 5,512.50 crore. The UAE's Mubadala bought 1.33 percent stake for Rs 6,247.50 crore...

  The Delhi high court on Thursday will continue hearing arguments by Future Retail Limited (FRL) and Amazon on the former’s plea seeking to restrain the US e-commerce company from approaching regulatory bodies such as the Competition Commission of India (CCI) against the retailer’s deal with Reliance's retail arm. The court has been hearing the case since last week. Both the parties to the case will continue with their submissions today. A single-judge bench of Justice Mukta Gupta on 12 November had directed all the parties to file their written submissions. On the last date of hearing, senior advocate Harish Salve appearing for FRL said the rights being claimed by Amazon are way beyond its actual legal rights. An interim order in favour of Amazon by the Singapore International Arbitration Centre (SIAC) is not binding, as it has not been decided by an Indian court, he had said. “He (Amazon) is interfering with my rights to salvage my company. FRL have not entered any agreement and...

  World's largest fund - the $100 billion SoftBank Vision Fund (SVF) - evaluated investing in  Jio Platforms  and  Reliance Retail  but its expectations were higher than what the two firms would deliver, Rajeev Misra, CEO of SoftBank Vision Fund told BusinessToday.In in an exclusive interview. Misra was responding to a query on whether SVF regretted not being an investor in Jio and Reliance Retail. "We evaluated Jio Platforms, Reliance Retail," says Misra. Eventually, SoftBank decided against investing at a time when global investors were queueing up to own a part of the two firms. SoftBank's contra decision comes in the wake of a stream of investments into the two Reliance firms that have raised Rs 1.52 lakh crore and Rs 47,265 crore, respectively, so far. The Rs 2 lakh crore investing spree right through the COVID-lockdown is continuing till date. Investors in Jio and Reliance Retail include marquee names such as Facebook, Google, KKR, Intel Capital, General A...

  Two of the world's richest men are duking it out over a brick-and-mortar retail chain on the verge of default. But when it comes to the fight for India's  growing e-commerce market , every  battle counts . Amazon   ( AMZN ) , the Seattle-based e-commerce firm owned by Jeff Bezos, is fighting a $3.3 billion deal struck between Mukesh Ambani's Reliance Industries and the Indian retail conglomerate Future Group. What's at stake is strategic access to a network of popular grocery stores and retail shops in India — something both Amazon and Reliance want to either have for themselves, or to prevent the other from acquiring. "If someone backs down, it will give the impression that one has lost and the other has won, when the fight has just started," said Counterpoint Research analyst Tarun Pathak. Amazon has 31.2% market share in India's e-commerce industry, just behind Walmart-owned Flipkart's 31.9%, according to a recent report from market research firm ...

  India's Future Retail Ltd (FRL) will go into liquidation if its deal to sell assets to  Reliance Industries  fails, the group told a Singapore arbitrator while arguing against  Amazon .com Inc's bid to scupper the deal, a legal order seen by Reuters showed. Amazon on Sunday won an injunction from a Singapore arbitrator to halt FRL's deal to sell assets to Reliance. Amazon alleged FRL had breached certain contract provisions it entered into last year in a separate deal with the U.S. firm. The dispute centres around FRL's decision in August to sell its retail, wholesale, logistics and some other businesses to Reliance for $3.38 billion, including debt. Amazon argues that a 2019 deal it had with a Future unit had clauses saying the Indian group couldn't sell its retail assets to anyone on a "restricted persons" list including any firms from Reliance chief  Mukesh Ambani 's group. The deal specified any disputes would be arbitrated under Singapore ...

  Amazon Inc is reportedly willing to help its debt-laden partner Future Group in bringing in a strong, stable investor if the latter calls off its Rs 24,700 crore deal with Reliance Retail Ventures Ltd (RRVL). Amazon which holds 49% stake in Future Coupons, the holding company of the then Kishore Biyani-owned Future Group, helped the latter by bringing in new strategic partners and investors to deal with its ballooning debt crisis.       According to a Mint report, Amazon is willing to help Future Group despite dragging it to the court for alleged violation of a non-compete pact in Future Coupons deal for bringing in RRVL.  The arbitration ruling is expected on or before October 26th. The arbitration ruling will be crucial as it would also decide the fate of Reliance Retail buying out Future Retail.  Amazon’s wish to help Future Group in bringing a strategic investor is borne out of fears that a potential deal Future Group and RRVL will sign...

  Singapore-based investment firm GIC has furnished the Rs 5,512.5 crore subscription amount for a 1.22 percent stake in the retail arm of Reliance Industries (RIL), the Mukesh Ambani-led firm informed exchanges on October 16. "Reliance Retail Ventures Limited, a subsidiary of the Company, today received the subscription amount of Rs 5512.50 crore from Gamnat Pte Ltd and Lathe Investment Pte. Ltd. (GIC) and allotted in the aggregate 80,798,827 equity shares to GIC," RIL said in an exchange filing. Earlier this month,  Reliance had announced the deal with the investment equity  firm which valued Reliance Retail at a pre-money equity value of Rs 4.285 lakh crore. On October 14, RIL had received the Rs 5,550 crore subscription amount from American buyout firm KKR & Co. The latest investments are part of a slew of deals confirmed by RIL in its retail unit, from big-name investors around the world. Earlier, on October 1, RIL ann...

  Government has paved the way for overseas listing of larges Indian companies(Which may not get the desired valuation in India) such as Reliance Jio, Life Insurance Corporation and startups, easing several norms to facilitate the process.   According to a report in the  Times of India , the ministry of corporate affairs (MCA) and the department of economic affairs have agreed to do away with the contentious clause of dual listing, which required a company to list in India as well as overseas. Indian companies can now directly list in seven countries-US, UK, Japan, Germany, France, Canada, South Korea. The list may be expanded later but Hong Kong is a notable exclusion amid India’s border tensions with China.  Further, exchanges operating in the International Financial Centre at GIFT City, which have tie-ups with overseas bourses, can facilitate the stock being traded abroad as well, the publication mentioned citing sources. For instance, if NSE or BSE ties...