Reliance Retail, Adani Group express interest in buying Future Group

Forty-nine prospective resolution applicants (PRAs) have submitted expressions of interest for Future Retail including Reliance Retail, Jindal Power, an Adani Group joint venture, UK-based travel retailer WH Smith Travel Ltd, and a number of scrap dealers and waste recyclers.

Incidentally, the RIL Group, the Adani Group, and WH Smith had been among the earlier list of final PRAs released in November last year. Future Retail has franchise rights from WH Smith Travel to operate its retail stores in India.JC Flowers Asset Reconstruction was not on the earlier list. It is an active participant in buying stressed assets in India. Last year, it acquired a pool of non-performing assets from YES Bank for $1.4 billion.

None of the PRAs, who were shortlisted earlier, submitted resolution plans though the deadline was extended twice, the last being February 20. On March 23, the RP again invited expressions of interest with some differences. PRAs could submit a bid for the company as a whole (Option 1) or they could submit bids for clusters (Option 2), which the RP split into five. Future Retail’s store network has been considerably depleted by Mukesh Ambani-owned Reliance Retail acquiring the lease rights of many of the stores, as the Future Group was unable to pay rent.