Amazon.com Inc (NASDAQ:AMZN)Hundreds of Indians woke up to find Amazon airing its grievances in several newspapers on Tuesday in response to the e-commerce giant's two-year attempt to halt a US$3.45bn deal with its estranged Indian partner Future Group and Reliance Retail.
Reliance Industries, India's most valuable company by market cap, and Future Group, which runs India's second largest retail chain, have been accused of fraudulent practices by Amazon. The Jeff Bezos-led company charged the Indian firms of allegedly violating court orders and attempting to "remove the substratum of the dispute."
Amazon has contested Future Group's sale of its retail assets to the billionaire Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance group, first announced in August 2020. The Supreme Court of India is currently hearing the case.
The newspaper ads were published to inform stakeholders, including Future's lenders, that transferring assets to Reliance would be illegal.
Consumers were notified by the public notice in newspapers on Tuesday morning of Future Group's alleged plan to transfer and alienate its assets to the Mukesh Dhirubhai Ambani group. Later that day, Amazon informed the Supreme Court that it was currently negotiating a settlement with Future Group, but that there had been no progress in the mediation proceedings related to Future Retail Ltd assets.
In spite of the top court's order not to interfere, Future Retail stores have been taken over by Reliance, charged Amazon. Future Retail said that not a single store has been surrendered.
Despite the ongoing court battle between Amazon and Future, Reliance last month reportedly started taking over several Future stores after brokering deals with landowners.
In a stunning surprise, Reliance had its teams show up at many of Future's biggest stores to seize control, surprising and outwitting the American company, which has invested over US$6.5bn in its India operations. In a filing earlier this month, Future said it couldn't pay rent at many outlets due to financial problems.
Amazon and Future have both stated in court today that they are interested in getting the arbitration proceedings in Singapore back on track after they had been suspended by the Delhi High Court. The Supreme Court of India has scheduled a hearing for Wednesday.