Billionaire Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Withdraws $3.2 Billion Take Over Bid For India’s Future Retail

Reliance Industries—controlled by billionaire Mukesh Ambani—has withdrawn its proposed acquisition of Future Retail, ending its lengthy battle with U.S. e-commerce giant Amazon for control of the Indian grocery chain.

Reliance abandoned its 247.1-billion-rupee ($3.2 billion) bid after secured creditors of Future Retail rejected the offer even as shareholders and unsecured creditors voted in favor of the deal. “In view thereof, the subject scheme of arrangement cannot be implemented,” Reliance said in a regulatory filing on Saturday.

Reliance and billionaire Jeff Bezos’ Amazon have been at loggerheads since the Indian conglomerate announced its deal to acquire Future Retail’s stores and warehouses in August 2020. Amazon, which had claimed that the Reliance deal violated its 2019 agreement with another Future Group company, wants to add Future’s Big Bazaar stores to expand its brick-and-mortar presence across India.

In 2019, Amazon acquired 49% of Future Coupons, a payments provider that offers gift cards and other products, to gain a foothold in India’s retail market. Amazon was subsequently named sole e-commerce provider for some Future Group brands.

But Future Group agreed to sell its retail and wholesale operations to rival Reliance the following year in August 2020. Reliance needs Future to accelerate the expansion of JioMart venture, which delivers daily essentials via a vast network of mom-and-pop shops.

Reliance is led by Mukesh Ambani, India’s second-richest man with a net worth of $103.4 billion, according to Forbes’ Real-Time Billionaires List. The conglomerate—which has interests in petrochemicals, oil and gas, telecom and retail—was founded by late father Dhirubhai Ambani, a yarn trader, in 1966 as a small textile manufacturer. After their father’s death in 2002, Mukesh and his younger sibling Anil divvied up the family empire. (Disclosure: Reliance Industries owns Network18, which publishes Forbes India.)