Weekly News Wrap: Amazon asks regulator to revoke Reliance-Future deal; Meituan bearish over $500m antitrust fine
And Ikea has opened its biggest store in the world in the Philippines.
Amazon has asked India's antitrust regulator to revoke its approval for Future Retail's $3.4b sale of retail assets to Reliance, saying it was "illegally obtained", violating an order suspending the deal, a letter seen by Reuters shows.
The approval for the deal was a "nullity in the eyes of law" as an arbitrator's order was still in force, according to the letter sent by Amazon.com to the Competition Commission of India (CCI) last week.
The battle between two of the world's richest men, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and Reliance Industries boss Mukesh Ambani, marks a contest for preeminence in India’s booming, nearly trillion-dollar retail market.
The winner in the fight for Future Retail, India’s second-largest retailer and Amazon’s estranged local partner, will get pole position in the race to meet the daily needs of more than a billion people.
The CCI, Amazon, Future Group and Reliance did not respond to requests for comment.
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From Reuters:
China's Meituan forecast a weaker outlook for its core food delivery business next year, after a $532.24m (RMB3.4b) fine pushed it to report its largest-ever quarterly loss in three years.
Tencent-backed Meituan said last month it had been fined by China's market regulator an amount that equated to 3% of its domestic sales in 2020 for abusing its market dominant position, marking the end of an investigation that began in April.
Meituan, whose services include restaurant reviews and bike sharing, has in addition faced economic headwinds as consumption in the world's second-largest economy slows.
Its core food delivery business saw gross transaction volume growth slow to 29.5% in July-September period from prior quarters, which Meituan's CEO Wang Xing told analysts was due to COVID-19 lockdowns, floods in central China as well as slowing growth in the country's catering industry.
"As a result, we expect to see a meaningful negative impact on order volumes in Q4 (fourth-quarter) and potentially in the first few quarters of next year," he said.
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From Bloomberg:
Ikea opened its biggest store in the world in the Philippines, with the new 730,000 square foot facility in Manila a cornerstone of the home-furnishings giant’s expansion plans in Asia.
Thursday’s opening was feted with an event held at the store’s cafeteria attended by Philippine trade secretary Ramon Lopez and foreign minister Teodoro Locsin, where Ikea’s cult-favorite Swedish meatballs were served to some attendees. They were accompanied for the big day by a special Philippine twist—adobo sauce.
The spread houses a two-level 270,000 square foot store, dining area and showroom; warehouses; an e-commerce facility; and a call centre. It’s on property leased out by SM Prime Holdings’ Mall of Asia.
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