Future Group Shines As HC Lifts Stay On RIL Deal

The shares of Kishore Biyani-led Future Group companies rallied during the Tuesday trading session at the stock exchanges after the Delhi High Court stayed the single judge bench order directing a ‘status quo’ on Future Retail-Reliance Industries (RIL) deal till the next hearing.

The Future Group stocks including Future Retail, Future Enterprises, Future Supply Chain Solutions, Future Consumer, Future Lifestyle Fashions rallied around 5-10 percent and were locked in their respective upper circuit limit.

The RIL stock rose as much as 1.9 per cent earlier in the day but ended marginally higher (up 0.16 per cent) to close the day at Rs 1,954.50. The counter clocked the trading volume of 90.47 lakh shares on the National Stock Exchange (NSE).

Against this, the benchmark indices the Nifty-50 and Sensex ended the day with marginal losses, and with that their six-day winning streak came to an end. 

Future Retail was locked in a 10 per cent upper circuit at Rs 80.50, with 12.54 lakh shares changing hands on NSE. Future Market Networks was locked in a 5 per cent upper circuit at Rs 19.15, with a trading volume of 89,346 shares. Future Enterprises gained 10 per cent at Rs 11.70, with a trading volume of 20.55 lakh shares. Future Consumer too was locked in a 10 per cent upper circuit at Rs 8.65 with a trading volume of around 3 crore shares. Future Supply Chain was up by 5 per cent at Rs 98.60, with 21,818 shares changing hands. 

The division bench of the Delhi High Court said that Amazon had no business seeking a status quo because they are not interested in this deal.

Delhi HC also observed that the statutory authorities such as the Securities and Exchanges Board of India (Sebi) and Competition Committee of India (CCI) had been asked to maintain the status quo when they themselves were not even present before the Delhi High Court.

The court also recorded that as part of Amazon’s investment agreement into Future Coupons, Future Retail was not a signatory to that investment agreement.

With these findings, the Delhi High Court vacated the status quo and cleared the decks for the deal.