NEW DELHI (Reuters) – Amazon.com Inc’s bid to halt the sale of Future Group’s $ 3.4 billion retail assets is like “Alexander the Great’s relentless ambition to destroy the land,” the CEO of Indian group Kishore Biyani in an internal staff memo seen by Reuters.
Amazon, locked in lengthy legal disputes with Future, alleges that the Indian company breached contracts by agreeing to sell its retail assets to Reliance Industries last year. The future is in denial.
Both sides this week traded barbs in court in New Delhi, the latest lawsuit where Amazon is trying to block the sale. India’s second-largest retailer says the deal is critical to the survival of its 1,700 stores and thousands of employees.
Doubling down on a corporate battle “for supremacy over Indian buyers”, Biyani employees said in an email late Friday that Amazon was “playing the dog in the closet”.
Excavating again at Amazon, he said that “the law and harassment worry one wonder about the appearance of a relentless ambition to clear the ground like Alexander of Greece – after all in all, they are encouraged to name their product Alexa. ”
“History tells us that Alexander conquered large parts of the world but failed in India.”
The Macedonian leader’s military campaign greatly expanded the Greek empire throughout the Middle East and parts of Asia, using in the Hellenistic age before his death in present-day Iraq in 323 BC
Amazon declined to comment on the memo by Biyani, often referred to as India’s sales king for transforming the country’s sales in recent decades.
In the latest court case, Amazon has also asked Judge Biyani to hold him in a civil jail, arguing that his company was “deliberately” violating a mediator’s order. Singapore in October arrested the agreement.
The future maintains that a settlement order is not binding.
His lawyer said Friday that Amazon was trying to block the deal because the U.S. company will find it difficult to compete with Reliance, led by one of Asia’s richest man, Mukesh Ambani , which is rapidly expanding into e-commerce.
“Amazon is only interested in promoting trust in India,” said Future Harish Salve adviser. The next court hearing is Monday.
An Indian stock exchange this month canceled a Future deal with Reliance, despite repeated requests from Amazon to regulators to block the deal.
“We have a strong legal basis and this is confirmed by the licenses,” Biyani said in his memo.
Reporting by Aditya Kalra in New Delhi; Edited by William Mallard