Amazon.com Inc. will acquire a 49% stake in loyalty cards and coupons distributor Future Coupons Ltd., a group entity which holds a stake in Indian retail company Future Retail Ltd., according to a regulatory filing on Aug. 22.
The deal gives the e-commerce giant a call option that will allow it to buy all or part of Future Coupon's shareholding in Future Retail. The call option is exercisable between the third and tenth year.
According to Reuters, Future Coupons has a 7.3% stake in Future Retail, which means the agreement with Amazon gives the e-commerce giant an approximately 3.58% stake in Future Retail.
In addition, Future Coupons agreed to a number of share transfer restrictions on its shares in Future Retail, including not selling Future Retail shares to specified persons and granting Amazon the right to purchase Future Retail shares before selling them to third party investors.
Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
The transaction is subject to regulatory approvals and customary closing conditions.
Future Retail, which owns supermarket chains including Big Bazaar and EasyDay, has over 2,000 stores across 400 cities in India. Amazon has been eyeing a stake in the Indian retail group since last year, according to reports.
Amazon has previously invested in other Indian brick-and-mortar chains such as Shoppers Stop Ltd. and Aditya Birla Retail Ltd.
