Future Retail asks NCLT for a new RP

Future Retail (FRL), against which Bank of India has filed insolvency proceedings, on Tuesday told the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) that the proposed resolution professional (RP) should be changed due to a conflict of interest.

The proposed RP – Deloitte – is also an auditor for certain other Future Group companies, hence a new RP should be appointed, FRL counsel Shyam Kapadia said in the course of a hearing to admit the company for insolvency.

Earlier, in April, FRL’s lenders selected Vijaykumar Iyer, backed by Deloitte India, as the RP for bankruptcy proceedings.

Senior Advocate Zal Andhyarujina, who made submissions on behalf of Amazon, said that the lenders should be directed to ask FRL to bring back the retail assets it has already sold.

The tribunal’s Mumbai bench will continue to hear the petition filed by Amazon opposing Bank of India’s (BoI’s) insolvency petition against Future Retail on Wednesday.

Separately, Future Enterprises (FEL), another Future Group company, on Tuesday said it has defaulted on an interest payment of Rs 6.07 crore due on non-convertible debentures (NCDs).

The company is unable to service its obligations in respect of the interest on NCDs due on June 20, 2022. The interest payment was due for 182 days between December 20, 2021, and June 19, 2022, for a principal amount of `120 crore, it said in a regulatory update on Tuesday.

FEL has been defaulting on NCD payments in the recent past. Earlier, on June 8, FEL said it defaulted on an interest payment of Rs 1.42 crore due on NCDs for a principal amount of Rs 29 crore. Prior to which, on May 18, FEL said it defaulted on an interest payment of `1.06 crore and previously on May 14, FEL said it failed to make an interest payment of Rs 8.94 lakh due on NCDs.

Similarly in May, Future Consumer, another group company, also said it defaulted on payment of principal and interest amount of Rs 6.4 crore due on unlisted debt securities.