Mumbai court blocks Future Enterprises from selling stake in Generali JV

An Indian court has blocked Future Enterprises from selling its stake in its general insurance joint venture business with Italy's Generali, following a legal challenge by a group representing bondholders, two sources familiar with the matter told Reuters.

Future Enterprises said in January that it had decided to sell its 25% stake in Future Generali India Insurance Company to Generali.

IDBI Trusteeship went to court representing foreign bondholders who subscribed to Future Enterprises companies that had defaulted. The bondholders had rights mandating Future Enterprises not to dilute its Future Generali stake, one of the sources said.

After hearing IDBI, a Mumbai city civil court ordered Future Enterprises to hold off from selling the stake until the next hearing on March 10.

Future and IDBI Trusteeship did not immediately respond to a request for comment.