Indian court lifts hold on Future’s $3.4 billion deal in setback for Amazon

An Indian court on Monday overturned an order that had stalled Future Group’s $3.4 billion deal to sell its retail assets, two sources said, in a setback for Future’s partner Amazon.com Inc, which has challenged the sale.

A New Delhi court had last week sided with the US online retailer and put Future’s asset sale to Reliance Industries on hold, leading to an appeal from the Indian retail group.

A two-judge bench hearing Future’s appeal on Monday put on hold the previous ruling, which had effectively stalled the mega retail deal, two sources familiar with the proceedings said.

Future in its appeal had said its creditors would be at “significant risk” if the Reliance deal failed.

A detailed written order has yet to be made public.

Amazon and Future did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

“It is a major setback for Amazon,” said one of the sources.

In a fight between two of the world’s richest men - Amazon’s Jeff Bezos and Reliance’s Mukesh Ambani - the US giant has argued that Future breached certain contracts by agreeing to the deal with Reliance. Future has denied any wrongdoing.

Future is India’s second-largest retailer with over 1,700 stores and agreed to sell its retail businesses to market leader Reliance last year.

INDIAN STOCK ENDS HIGHER: India’s benchmark equity indices ended higher for the sixth consecutive session on Monday, as robust global cues and fresh influx of foreign funds buoyed investor sentiments.

Accordingly, the market had a gap-up opening but remained sideways through the day. On Monday, FIIs were net buyers to the tune of Rs1,876.60 crore in BSE, NSE and MSEI in the capital market segment.

Globally, most Asian shares rose echoing the rally on Wall Street last week, with Nikkei momentarily reaching three-decade highs on growing optimism over the global economy. Similarly, European stocks traded higher with markets tracking positive sentiment in Asia and the US.

Among sectors, banks, auto and metals did well, while PSU banks and the FMCG index underperformed.

Consequently, the S&P BSE Sensex closed at 51,348.77, higher by 617.14 points, or 1.22 per cent, from its previous close. Similarly, the NSE Nifty50 also made healthy gains. It ended the day’s trade at 15,115.80, higher by 191.55 points, or 1.287 per cent, from its previous close.

“Nifty marches ahead day after day with minimal intra day correction. Going by volume numbers, it seems that FPIs’ interest dipped on Monday. The ongoing results season is leading to rotational buying across stocks and sectors which incidentally pulls the Nifty up. On a channel line basis, the next resistance for the Nifty is around 15,200 while the support is at 14,870-14,914,” said Deepak Jasani, Head of Retail Research at HDFC Securities.

Meanwhile, India’s January air travel growth slowed sequentially due to higher capacity, ratings agency ICRA said on Monday.