Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Retail and the Adanis are among the 49 entities to have submitted expressions of interest (EoIs) for the assets of Future Retail Limited, which is going through an insolvency resolution process.

Jindal Power and J.C. Flowers Asset Reconstruction have also shown interest.

The lenders invited fresh bids after dividing the company’s assets into clusters. Bidders can bid for the entire company or specific clusters.

The first cluster reportedly relates to the retail business which is divided into four zones comprising large and small format stores.

The second cluster is Future Retail’s stake in Travel News Services Limited (TNSI) which comprises the WHSmith business; the third is the Foodhall business; and the fourth is inventory and fixed assets.

The fifth cluster consists of the residual assets of the company.

A few scrap dealers have shown also shown interest.

Reliance Retail Ventures Ltd, the holding company for retail operations of Reliance Industries, and April Moon Retail Private Ltd, a joint venture between Adani Airport Holdings and Flemingo Group, have submitted their EoIs.

FRL’s resolution professional disclosed in a regulatory filing that the 49 players would be permitted to submit “resolution plan(s) for any/all such Clusters under Option II”.

Other players who have submitted the EoI include UV Stressed Assets Management Pvt Ltd, Century Copper Corp, Greentech worldwide, Harsha Vardhan Reddy, Pinnacle Air Pvt Ltd, Universal Associates and WHSmith Travel Ltd.

On March 23, 2023, the creditors 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 they failed to attract a resolution plan in over four months.

Earlier, it had received EOIs and finalised 11 prospective bidders including Reliance and April Moon Retail but could not get a resolution plan despite two extensions.

Final act

■ 49 entities submit EoIs for Future Retail

■ Jindal Power, J.C. Flowers have shown interest

■ Bidders can buy the whole company or pick up assets separately

■ Lenders have carved up the assets into five categories