Future Lifestyle Insolvency: Claims worth Rs 3,477 cr taken from creditors

Future Lifestyle Fashions Ltd (FLFL) has said that claims worth Rs 3,477.28 crore from as many as 17 financial creditors have been admitted in the ongoing Corporate Insolvency Resolution Process (CIRP).

Catalyst Trusteeship Ltd has emerged as the lead financial creditor with Rs 600.40 crore, having a 17.4 per cent voting share in the Committee of Creditors (CoC), formed for the debt-ridden Future Group firm.

This is followed by the State Bank of India and Centbank Financial Services Limited (Debenture Trustee) with a loan amount of Rs 476.59 crore and Rs 444.76 crore respectively.

State Bank of India has a voting share of 13.86 per cent and Centbank Financial has a voting share of 12.93 per cent in the CoC, FLFL said in a regulatory filing.

Besides, Centbank Financial Services (Debenture Trustee) also has a loan of Rs 38.50 crore.

Moreover, FLFL has received claims of Rs 803.48 crore from the operational creditors, which are "under verification" now by the resolution professional.

RP has also received claims worth Rs 38.66 crore from the employees/workmen of FLFL which are also under verification.

"The claims received are under verification and will be verified once we receive access to the accounting system of the Corporate Debtor (FLFL)," said the RP.

Earlier, on May 4, the Mumbai bench of the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) had directed to initiate CIRP against FLFL, admitting a petition from the Bank of India.

On June 19, 2023, its Interim Resolution Professional (IRP) Ravi Sethia was appointed as RP of the company by the CoC.

This is the third company of the Kishore Biyani-led Future Group, which has been dragged into CIRP by its creditors for defaulting on the loans.

Its flagship firm Future Retail Ltd and logistics & infra-arm Future Enterprises are already facing insolvency proceedings.

FLFL was considering asset monetisation to pare-off debts, however, it did not materialise. It had entered into a One Time Restructuring (OTR) plan with lenders also.

It has in-house retail chains Central and Brand Factory, exclusive brand outlets (EBOs) and other multi-brand outlets (MBOs) of nearly a dozen apparel labels, including Lee Cooper, Champion, aLL, Indigo Nation, Giovani, John Miller, Scullers, Converse and Urbana in its portfolio.

FLFL was part of the 19 group companies operating in retail, wholesale, logistics and warehousing segments, which were supposed to be transferred to Reliance Retail as part of a Rs 24,713-crore deal announced in August 2020.

The deal was called-off by billionaire Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Industries Ltd in April. After that several Future Group companies had several defaults on payments.