Offshore bondholders of Future Retail got formal communication that a Reliance-linked entity will fully absorb its outstanding $500mn dollar bonds, thus implying a full recovery. If the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) approves the proposed takeover scheme, i.e., sale of $3.4bn in assets to Reliance, then the dollar bonds will be transferred to Reliance Retail and Fashion Lifestyle Ltd. Senior secured bondholders are favored in the hierarchy for recovery of dues if Future Retail undergoes insolvency proceedings since the bonds are backed by collateral. This comes just days after banks like Bank Of Baroda were set to initiate debt recovery proceedings at the Debt Recovery Tribunal (DRT) against Future Retail. At that time, bankers saw this as a measure of last resort and to safeguard from the legal hurdle. Future Group which has $4bn in debt has now seen lenders start classifying their loans as non-performing assets (NPA). The action by banks came after Future Retail could not pay rent for stores and in response, Reliance had taken over those leases and subsequently the possession of 900 stores including its famous Big Bazaar stores.
Future Retail dollar bonds were higher – its 5.6% 2025 were up 0.25 points to 59.00.
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