Creditors of Future Retail have sought 90 days’ time to complete the insolvency resolution process.

the resolution professional FRL has filed an application before the Mumbai Bench of the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) seeking “exclusion of 90 days period from CIRP of FRL and consequential extension from April 16, 2023 to July 15, 2023 for conclusion of CIRP” FRL’s have been demanded.”

CIRP was initiated against FRL by NCLT on July 20, 2022 following the loan default.

The time limit for resolution under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC) is 330 days, including the time taken for litigation.

As per Section 12(1) of the Code, the CIRP shall be completed within a period of 180 days from the date of commencement. However, NCLT can grant one time extension of 90 days. The maximum time within which the CIRP must be compulsorily completed, including any extension or litigation period, is 330 days.

In addition, the resolution professional has also filed an application before the Mumbai bench of NCLT, seeking directions with regard to obtaining access to inaccessible stores and warehouses of FRL, the company said in a regulatory filing.

In February 2022, Reliance Retail took over over 200 Future Group stores and re-branded them as Reliance Stores after the Kishore Biyani-led group’s landlords failed to make lease payments.

Reliance Retail, the retail arm of the oil-to-telecom conglomerate, had agreed in August 2020 to take over the retail and logistics business of Future Group. 24,713 crore but the deal could not be closed as Future’s warring partner Amazon moved the courts citing breach of certain contracts.

Last week, the lenders had informed that they have received Expression of Interest (EoI) from 49 players, including Reliance Retail, Jindal Power Ltd and Adani Group, to acquire the assets of FRL.

On March 23, 2023, the lender to FRL had invited fresh expressions of interest where prospective buyers can bid for the debt-ridden firm “as a going concern or individual cluster or combination of clusters of its assets”, as it failed to attract an offer. Planning for more than four months.

Earlier, it had received EoIs and finalized 11 potential bidders, including Reliance and April Moon Retail, but could not get a resolution plan in place despite two extensions to the submission deadline.

The Committee of Creditors had given two options in the EOI, for which the last date for submission was April 7, 2023.

In the first option, the Prospective Resolution Applicant (PRA) may bid for the acquisition of Future Retail, including its shareholding interest in its subsidiaries. While under the second option, Future Retail’s business is divided into five cluster diving businesses, wherein PRAs can bid for “any individual cluster or any combination of clusters”.

As per the invitation, FRL currently has access to 302 leased retail stores spread across 23 states and union territories, including 30 large format stores such as Big Bazaar and FBB stores and 272 small format stores.

The text of this story is published from a wire agency feed without any modification.