India’s Future Retail said on Wednesday it was committed to taking back its stores which were seized by rival Reliance, saying it had been surprised by the move.

Reliance, India’s biggest retailer, stunned Future on February 25 with its staff suddenly showing up at many of Future’s biggest stores to assume control, in what was seen as a de facto takeover. The takeover occurred even though Future’s sparring partner, Amazon.com Inc, says it had legal injunctions in place prohibiting such store transfers.

Reuters has reported that many in Future’s management were in the dark about Reliance’s plans.

In a statement to Indian stock exchanges on Wednesday, Future said it was committed to take all action to seek “reversal of takeover of the stores” by Reliance.

Future did not elaborate how it would do so, but said it was surprised by the “drastic and unilateral action” taken by Reliance.

For more than a year, Amazon.com Inc and India’s Future Group have been locked in a complex legal stand-off that has stalled Future’s $3.4 billion sale of assets to rival Reliance Industries, the country’s biggest conglomerate.

Amazon and Future agreed to out-of-court settlement discussions this month, but the two sides told India’s Supreme Court on March 15 they had failed to resolve the matter.

Sources said the talks collapsed because Amazon wanted at least $200 million – the amount it had invested in Future’s unit – returned. But the Indian company said it wasn’t in a financial position to do so. (Reuters)