The Tata group is facing a roadblock to buy a Cafe Coffee Day unit, one of India's most popular coffee chains, beverage vending machine business after two big lenders to the Coffee Day Group has objected to the deal.
An investigation into the circumstances that led to the alleged suicide of VG Siddhartha, the owner of the Coffee Day group, has revealed that Rs 3,535 crore siphoned off from the company by the entrepreneur's personal firms.
An investigation reveals shocking details into Coffee Day Enterprises Ltd after the death of founder V.G. Siddhartha that at least 20 billion rupees ($270 million) are missing from its accounts. Cafe Coffee Day founder committed suicide in July 2019.
Ashok Kumar will also investigate the circumstances under which Coffee Day Enterprises late founder V G Siddhartha had written the purported letter dated July 27, alleging harassment by the income tax department.
According to police sources, water was found in Siddhartha's lungs and his death was due to drowning.
Cafe Coffee Day owner, late V G Siddhartha's father, Gangaiah Hegde passed away on Sunday in a Mysuru hospital, a month after Siddhartha was found dead in the Netravati River on July 31.
The debt position of Coffee Day Group post repayment of debt out of proceeds from the sale of Global Village is expected to be around Rs 1,000 crore in the next 45 days, it added. As per the filing, the total debt of Coffee Day Enterprises as on July 31, 2019, was Rs 3,472 crore.
The announcement comes weeks after Coffee Day Enterprises founder V G Siddhartha allegedly committed suicide. In a letter purportedly written by him, Siddhartha mentioned severe financial stress being faced by his group firms, among other issues.
As per the regulatory filings with stock exchanges and the corporate affairs ministry, Coffee Day Ltd's liabilities had doubled to over Rs 5,200 crore and Siddhartha's unlisted ventures for realty and hospitality were having similar levels of debt.
The purported letter, which is believed to be the final note by the late promoter and widely circulated on social media, contained statements alleging harassment on VG Siddhartha by the Income Tax department. In a reply to the clarification sought by the bourses on the issue, Coffee Day Enterprises said "the company is aware of the news report" and added that it is "co-operating with regulatory authorities in relation to the letter and related matter."
Days after his death, there is no clarity on whether a harassed VGS threw in the towel because of creditor or Income Tax pressure. His suicide note hinted at both. But, why did he take this extreme step after all he was successful in paying off some of his creditors? Or was his political connection and friendship with Congress play maker D.K. Shivakumar (DKS) responsible for his untimely death?
SV Ranganath has been named the interim chairman of Cafe Coffee Day after the death of VG Siddhartha. Nitin Bagmane has been made the interm chief operating officer.
Shares of Coffee Day Enterprises Ltd further plummeted 20 per cent to hit its lowest trading permissible limit for the day on Wednesday after its Chairman and Managing Director V G Siddhartha's body was found.
All our 1,750 retail outlets in about 240 cities will remain shut for the day as a mark of respect to our founder-chairman Siddhartha who is no more. The decision came just hours after Siddhartha's body was fished out of the Netravathi river on the west coast earlier in the day.
CCD Founder VG Siddhartha's body has been recovered from Netravati river near Mangaluru after a 35-hour extensive search. VG Siddhartha, son-in-law of SM Krishna, went missing on Monday.
Siddhartha, 60, went missing on Monday evening and was seen last on the road bridge between Ullal and Mangaluru over the river around 7 pm as his car driver Basavaraj Patil told the police.
Shares of Coffee Day Enterprises Ltd dropped 20 per cent on Tuesday, eroding Rs 813 crore from its market valuation, after reports surfaced that its Chairman and Managing Director V G Siddhartha has gone missing.
Coffee Day Enterprises, the holding firm of Coffee Day, had a total debt of around Rs 6,550 crore as on March 2019. The group's coffee business, which includes some exports, reported revenues of Rs 1,777 crore in FY18 and Rs 1,814 crore in FY19.
V. G. Siddhartha is an Indian businessman from Karnataka's Chikkamagaluru district. He is best known as the founder-owner of the chain of Cafe Coffee Day outlets. He comes from a family that has been in the business of coffee plantation for around 140 years. He is credited with creating India's largest coffee empire. He is also married to the daughter of former Karnataka CM SM Krishna.
While search for CCD founder VG Siddhartha is underway, the company in a letter has informed the National Stock Exchange (NSE) that the business is running as usual.
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