Debt-laden Future Retail’s (FRL) resolution professional has called for expressions of interest (EoIs) from prospective buyers under its ongoing bankruptcy proceedings, with October 20 as the deadline for submitting the bids.
Following the receipt of the bids, the resolution professional (RP) will issue the final list of the prospective resolution applicants (PRA) on November 6.
The deadline to submit the resolution plans has been fixed as December 6, according to the EoI.
The timelines are subject to modification by the committee of creditors (CoC), it said, adding that the PRA should have a minimum tangible net worth of `100 crore and a minimum of Rs 250 crore available for investment.
FRL, which operates leased retail stores, had a pan-India presence in financial year 2020-21 with 1,308 stores in 397 cities across various formats and stores.
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The company’s fixed assets largely comprise furniture and fixtures and leasehold improvements at various leased retail stores. FRL, as per the information provided on the insolvency commencement date (July 20, 2022), had access to 302 leased retail stores across 23 states and Union Territories consisting of 30 large format stores (Big Bazaar and FBB stores) and 272 small format stores, according to the EoI document.
As per FRL’s annual report, revenue from operations for FY20-21 stood at Rs 6,261.04 crore, while sale of products contributed to `6,108.28 crore. The Future Group company’s revenue from operations for the nine months ended December 31, 2021, amounted to Rs 6,538.75 crore.
As of August 2022, FRL had a total of 2,242 employees in August 2022. As per the company’s FY21 annual report, it had 21,839 employees across various offices in the country. Earlier in August, FRL received claims totalling Rs 21,057 crore from a total of 33 financial creditors, including Bank of New York Mellon and Seoul-headquartered Shinhan Bank.
Of the total, about Rs 17,511.69 crore has been verified by the RP, while the remaining Rs 3,546.2 crore was yet to be verified.
On April 28, 2022, Bank of India had filed a petition seeking to initiate the Corporate Insolvency Resolution Process against FRL, the flagship firm of Kishore Biyani-led Future Group, for defaulting on Rs 856.10 crore as of December 31, 2021. Later in July, the National Company Law Tribunal’s Mumbai bench had ordered insolvency proceedings against FRL.
