BackMcDonald’s dispute: Vikram Bakshi set to move HC against arbitration order
Vikram Bakshi plans to challenge the London arbitration court award that asks him to sell his stake in Connaught Plaza Restaurants Ltd (CPRL) to McDonald’s in the Delhi high court
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New Delhi: Vikram Bakshi, the estranged joint venture partner of McDonald’s India Pvt. Ltd is planning to challenge the London arbitration court award that had asked him to sell his stake in Connaught Plaza Restaurants Ltd (CPRL) to the US burger chain in the Delhi high court.
CPRL, a joint venture between McDonald’s India (MIPL) and Bakshi, operates 169 restaurants across north and east India.
The London Court of International Arbitration (LCIA) on 12 September asked Bakshi to sell his stake and called for the appointment of independent experts to determine a fair value for CPRL, Press Trust of India had reported.
Bakshi, managing director of CPRL, is filing an appeal in the high court against the LCIA award by next week, said a person familiar with the development, on condition of anonymity.
This comes days after McDonald’s India approached Delhi high court to enforce the arbitration court award against Bakshi, following which the court had issued notice to the latter and sought his reply within six weeks.
McDonald’s has been pursuing arbitration against Bakshi in LCIA since 2013.
That year, the fast food chain had voted against the re-election of Bakshi as managing director of CPRL. Bakshi had challenged his removal in the Company Law Board (now National Company Law Tribunal or NCLT).
Later that year, McDonald’s revoked the joint venture agreement and invoked arbitration.
However, NCLT on 13 July 2017 reinstated Bakshi as managing director and also asked McDonald’s Corp. to refrain from interfering in the functioning of CPRL.
McDonald’s challenge to the NCLT order is pending in the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT).
McDonald’s India did not respond to an e-mailed query seeking comment.
This comes in the backdrop of the burger chain terminating its franchise agreement with CPRL on 21 August, citing non-payment of royalties as the primary reason.
Bakshi was supposed to shut the restaurants from 6 September.
However, all McDonald’s outlets have not only continued to operate but Bakshi, in September, also reopened 21 of 43 outlets in Delhi which were shut in June following CPRL’s failure to renew eating house licences.
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