Reliance Retail and BC Jindal group have sought more time to conduct due diligence on Future Enterprises that owns lucrative stakes in insurance joint ventures that Future Group runs with Italian financial services major Generali, according to sources aware of the matter.
Future Enterprises‘ creditors were informed at a meeting on Thursday that an extension had been sought by both prospective bidders who were due to submit formal offers on 24th August. The bid deadline has now been extended to 25th September, according to the sources.
As per a stock exchange disclosure on 11th July made by Future Enterprises, three players had submitted expressions of interest for the company. They included, Reliance Retail Ventures, Jindal (India) Limited which is part of the BC Jindal Group and GBTL Limited.
Reliance Retail, BC Jindal Group and Future Enterprises’s resolution professional Avil Menezes had not respond to ET’s queries until press time on Thursday.
Future Enterprises currently owns a 8.8% stake in the life insurance JV with Generali and a 25.5% stake in the general insurance JV with the Italian company.
The general insurance company was valued at almost ₹5,000 crore when General increased its stake from around 49% to about 74% in May last year. Generali paid around ₹1,267 crore for the additional 25% stake it purchased at the time. The value of the stake in the life insurance JV is unknown.
Future group’s promoter Kishore Biyani had entered the JVs with the Italian financial services company in 2006.
Future Enterprises was admitted for insolvency proceedings on 27 February on an application made by one of the company’s operational creditors.
The company’s financial creditors including secured and unsecured creditors have filed claims of ₹11,000 crore against the company that stand unpaid.
22 banks and financial institutions have claims against the company. The major creditors include Axis Bank, Canara Bank, Central Bank of India and IDBI Bank among others.
