CCI approves ADIA’s stake buy in Lenskart
Future Retail has failed to attract a resolution plan in over 4 months
The creditors of Future Retail Ltd have now invited new expressions of interest where the 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.
Despite finalising 11 prospective bidders like Reliance and Adani group' JV April Moon Retail, FRL against which the corporate insolvency resolution process (CIRP) was initiated on July 20, 2022, failed to receive any bids till February 20, 2023 despite two extensions in deadline for submissions.
Following this, lenders have decided to divide the assets into clusters to make them more attractive to buyers.
"... the last date of receipt of resolution plans was December 15, 2022, which was subsequently extended to January 16, 2023 and thereafter to February 20, 2023. However, no resolution plans were received for FRL by the due date of submission of resolution plans for the Corporate Debtor.
"Subsequent to the above, the RP, in terms of approval by the CoC, hereby issues this invitation for expression of interest (IEOI) for submission of EOI for Corporate Debtor as a going concern or individual Cluster or a combination of Clusters of the assets of FRL," it said.
The Resolution Professional (RP) has now issued a new invitation for expression of interest (IEOI) for FRL, where the prospective buyers can bid FRL "as a going concern or individual Cluster or a combination of clusters" of its assets.
Under the new IEOI, for which the last date for submission for the eligible prospective resolution applicants (PRA) is April 7, 2023, the Committee of Creditors (CoC) has provided two options.
In the first option, PRA could bid for the acquisition of FRL as a whole, including its shareholding interest in its subsidiaries.
While under the second option, FRL business has been distributed in five clusters diving business, in which PRAs can bid for "any individual cluster or any combination of clusters".
Fair-trade regulator Competition Commission of India (CCI) on Thursday said it has given approval under the green channel route to Abu Dhabi Investment Authority for acquiring a stake in Lenskart Solutions Pvt Ltd (LSPL). Under the green channel route, wherein a transaction, which does not raise any risk of an appreciable adverse effect on competition, is deemed to be approved on being intimated to the competition watchdog.
The proposed transaction relates to the proposed acquisition of a certain shareholding of LSPL by Platinum Jasmine A 2018 Trust (Platinum Jasmine), a notice filed with the CCI said.
Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA) is the sole beneficiary and settlor of Platinum Jasmine, while LSPL is engaged in the business of manufacture, sale and wholesale trading of eyewear products.