NEW DELHI (Reuters) – Indian stock exchanges on Wednesday gave the go-ahead for Future Group’s $ 3.4 billion deal to sell its retail assets, taking it one step closer to closing a deal that will strengthen ties with its business partner Amazon .com Inc.
Future and Amazon are in legal battle over the Indian group’s August deal with Reliance Industries. The US e-commerce giant claims the deal violated some of its pre-existing contracts with Future.
Late night Indian exchanges reported that they had no objection or negative comments on the deal, saying they had reached the decision after consulting with the Indian market regulator, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI).
SEBI has advised that Future should share several details of the company’s pending lawsuits with Amazon when it approaches India’s National Company Law Tribunal, which must also sign the deal, the Bombay Stock Exchange notice said.
SEBI has not separately disclosed its comments.
Reliance and Future did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The reports will be a setback for Amazon, which has repeatedly written letters to SEBI and exchanges in recent weeks to suspend review of the deal.
Amazon has also dragged Future before an arbitrator in Singapore, who passed an interim injunction in October saying the Reliance deal must be stopped. Future says the order is not binding on her.
Following the nod from the exchanges, Amazon said in a statement that it would continue to take legal action to enforce its rights, noting that the approvals were subject to the outcome of the ongoing arbitration process and other lawsuits.
The outcome of the dispute embracing Future, Reliance and Amazon is seen as shaping India’s retail landscape, especially by deciding who will emerge as the leader of a grocery market expected to be worth about $ 740 billion a year by 2024 will be.
Reporting by Aditya Kalra in New Delhi; Edited by Euan Rocha and Steve Orlofsky