The Mumbai bench of the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) has granted Future Retail Ltd (FRL) an extension of 90 days till July 15 to complete its insolvency resolution exercise.
"NCLT on April 13, 2023, heard the application and granted the said exclusion of 90 days from CIRP (corporate insolvency resolution process) of FRL and consequent extension for completion of CIRP till July 15, 2023," Future Retail said a regulatory filing.
It said the NCLT has pronounced an oral order and is awaiting a "written order’’. The deadline for sale was April 16.
The insolvency resolution was initiated against FRL by NCLT on July 20, 2022. According to Section 12(1) of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC), CIRP shall be completed within 180 days. The NCLT may grant a one-time extension of 90 days. The maximum time given is 330 days, including litigation.
Earlier this week, Future Retail said 49 entities that included Reliance Retail, the Adani group — through April Moon Retail Private Ltd which is a joint venture between Adani Airport Holdings and Flemingo group — have submitted Expression of Interest (EoI) for acquiring its assets.
The lenders of FRL had earlier decided to invite fresh bids after dividing the company’s assets into clusters. The bidders can bid for the entire company or specific clusters.
On March 23, 2023, the resolution professional of Future Retail invited new expressions of interest, where prospective buyers can bid for the debt-ridden firm "as a going concern or individual cluster or a combination of clusters of its assets", as it failed to attract a resolution plan in over four months.
