BENGALURU: The debt-ridden Indian retailer announced on Monday that 49 entities are vying to acquire Future Retail Ltd., including businesses run by billionaires Mukesh Ambani and Gautam Adani, a British retailer, and international asset reconstruction companies.
Expressions of interest (EoIs) have been lodged by Reliance Retail, a division of Ambani’s Reliance Industries Ltd, and April Moon Retail Pvt Ltd, a partnership between Flemingo group and Gautam Adani-led Adani Airport Holdings, according to an exchange filing by Future Retail.
The US-based restructuring company Gordon Brothers, a consortium fronted by the London-based retailer WH Smith, the Indian company Jindal Power, and individual investor Harsha Vardhan Reddy are among the other organisations that have submitted EOIs.
The Economic Times daily said that Future Retail’s court-appointed resolution professional scheduled a second round of EoIs because the first round lacked sufficient participants.
Formerly the second-largest retailer in India, Future Retail was forced into bankruptcy by banks after defaulting on debts and lenders turned down a $3.4 billion takeover offer from Reliance amid a court battle by Amazon.com Inc.
Emails requesting comment from Reliance Retail, Jindal Power, JC Flowers, WH Smith, and Gordon Brothers did not receive an immediate response.
