No assets in UAE, no attachment: Honasa

Honasa Consumer Ltd, which owns Mamaearth, brand, on Saturday said there will be no attachment of its assets in the UAE as it has no assets there, although a court in Dubai has ordered such an action in its ongoing litigation with RSM General Trading LLC over termination of distributorship.

The company, which also owns The Derma Co and Aqualogica brands, had on Friday said a court in Dubai has ordered attachment of its assets in the UAE but refused to cancel the trading licence of Honasa Consumer General Trading LLC.

In a filing on Saturday, the company said,"... There shall be no attachment of the company assets, as the company has no assets located in the UAE." Honasa Consumer General Trading LLC, a subsidiary of Honasa Consumer Ltd has been exempted from this order, it added.

RSM General Trading LLC (RSM) and Honasa Consumer Ltd (Honasa) had filed grievance statements against the precautionary attachment order passed by Court of Merits at Dubai, the UAE on June 6, 2024. The Dubai court rejected both the appeals filed by RSM and Honasa.

In a regulatory filing on Friday, Honasa said, "The Dubai court ordered to attach Honasa's assets in Dubai, the UAE in view of the 25 million AED compensation (debt) ordered by Court of First Instance, Dubai." The court rejected the grievance statement filed by it.

At the same time, the court also rejected the grievance filed by RSM and "refused to cancel the trading licence of Honasa Consumer General Trading LLC in Dubai, UAE on the grounds that Honasa Consumer General Trading LLC is a separate legal and financial entity and is not related to Honasa." In the June 6 order, the Dubai court had allowed to attach Honasa Consumer Ltd's assets in the UAE, however, it rejected to cancel the trading license of Honasa Consumer General Trading LLC, it added.

The order came on a a precautionary attachment application filed by RSM against Honasa Consumer Ltd before the Court of Merits at Dubai, UAE for attaching assets of the company in the UAE and cancellation of trading licence of Honasa Consumer General Trading LLC.

RSM General Trading LLC had filed a lawsuit in the Dubai court for unlawful termination of its distributorship by Honasa Consumer Ltd.

Honasa stated it will appeal the latest order in Dubai, and will have no adverse financial impact till the finality of the appeal proceedings.

The company further said in August the Delhi High Court had ordered RSM to withdraw any execution proceeding filed in Dubai, the UAE along with depositing (approximately) Rs 57 crore to the Delhi High Court registry.

"The Delhi High Court further ordered that if the execution proceedings filed by RSM in Dubai are successful, the deposited amount of Rs 57 crore shall be released to Honasa," the filing said.

It further said, "Since, RSM has not either withdrawn the execution proceedings in Dubai, UAE nor it has deposited Rs 57 crore (approximately) to the Delhi High Court registry, Honasa is in the process of filing contempt proceedings against RSM before the Delhi High Court for breach of compliance of the Delhi High Court judgment."