Reliance Industries Limited (RIL), which has shown interest in buying Kishore Biyani’s Future Group, is now in talks with its lenders for haircut on loans and easier terms of repayment, three people aware of the development told The Economic Times.
RIL is seeking a haircut of close to 30% on outstanding loans of more than Rs 6,000 crore (about $800 million) and refinancing part of the loans for a further period of up to 7 years, said one of the persons.
“A strong promoter with deep pockets would help the business to flourish, since it’s a good franchise; lenders are also seeking to avoid a bankruptcy situation,” a banker said.
Across its six listed companies, Future group has total debt of Rs 12,989 crore and accumulated interest burden of an additional Rs 1,950 crore.
In another development, Multiples PE-backed Arvind Fashions is looking to sell two of its denim brands -- Newport and Ruf & Tuf -- to Reliance Retail and is separately in talks with value retailer V-Mart to sell its Unlimited department store chain, three people familiar with the development told The Economic Times.
Last week Walmart Inc.-owned online retailer Flipkart had agreed to acquire a minority stake in Arvind Youth Brands Pvt. Ltd., a subsidiary of the company which owns Flying Machine brand of denim apparel, for Rs 260 crore.
Separately, Reliance Industries-owned online grocery service JioMart is looking to acquire Gurugram-based micro delivery startup Milkbasket, two people privy to the development told TechCircle.
Milkbasket raised $5.5 million in its Series B round of funding led by Inflection Point Ventures last month. The round included participation from existing investors Kalaari capital, Mayfield India, Blume Ventures Opportunity Fund, Unilever Ventures and Beenext.
In March, BigBasket was reporetdly looking to acquire Milkbasket; the latter also had discussions with other players like Swiggy, Amazon India, and Dunzo.
