The financials of six privately held companies associated with Siddhartha show an increase in debt and falling ability to meet short-term obligations.
When word got around in the ministry of external affairs that Siddhartha and Malavika were going to New York and would be with SM Krishna, protocol officers went to Delhi airport to see off the couple. Siddhartha chided them for doing so and when the officials said a government vehicle would be picking them up at John F Kennedy airport on arrival, he told them that he would take a taxi to reach the New York Palace hotel where his father-in-law was staying. K P Nayar reports.
Coming from a family that has a 140-year history of growing coffee, Siddhartha, 59, initially dabbled in stock trading and wanted to work as an investment banker in Mumbai after completing his Master's in Economics from Mangalore University.
Coffee Day Global Ltd (CDGL) and its financial creditor IndusInd Bank have reached a settlement, following which NCLAT has set aside an insolvency order against the company which owns and operates coffee chain Cafe Coffee Day. Counsel representing CDGL and IndusInd bank on Wednesday informed the Chennai bench of National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) about the settlement and sought permission to withdraw insolvency litigations. A two-member bench comprising Justice M Venugopal and Shreesha Merla took their submissions on record and set aside the order admitting CDGL to insolvency.
India has been a tea sipping society. But the aromatic wave of coffee culture is wafting across it.
Coffee Day Enterprises Ltd has reported a total default of Rs 465.66 crore on payments of interest and repayment of principal amount on loans from banks, financial institutions and Unlisted Debt Securities as NCDs and NCRPS, for the quarter ended September 30, 2022. Coffee Day Enterprises Ltd (CDEL) which is paring its debts through asset resolution, has a total debt of Rs 490.66 crore, including short-term and long-term debt. "The delay in debt servicing is due to liquidity crisis," said Coffee Day Enterprises Ltd (CDEL) in a regulatory update.
"V G Siddhartha, chairman and managing director of Coffee Day Enterprises Limited is not reachable since yesterday evening. We are taking the help of concerned authorities," Coffee Day Enterprises said in a regulatory filing.
V G Siddhartha's wife has the support of the employees. But the challenges ahead of her are tough.
L&T has acquired Cafe Coffee Day-owner V G Siddhartha's 20.32 per cent stake in Mindtree and has also placed an order with brokers to pick up another 15 per cent shares from the open market.
"We are waiting for the post-mortem report which will make it clear how the death happened," Patil told reporters at Mangaluru.
The auditor will also investigate into the circumstance under which Coffee Day Enterprises late founder V G Siddhartha had written the purported letter dated July 27, 2019, alleging harassment by the Income Tax department.
She also alleged an atmosphere prevailed where opposition parties were also afraid of 'horsetrading, harassment and political vendetta'.
In a deal that had marked India's first-ever hostile takeover bid in the IT space, L&T had bought 20.32 per cent shares in Mindtree from V G Siddhartha and his coffee enterprise for over Rs 3,000 crore in March. Nalanda India Fund and Nalanda India Equity Fund have also sold majority of their holdings in Mindtree in L&T's open offer.
It has been also revealed that V G Siddhartha had written a letter to the Board of Directors and employees of Coffee Day Enterprises, saying he had 'failed as an entrepreneur'.
Siddhartha alleged in his letter that there was a lot of harassment from the previous DG Income Tax in the form of attaching "our shares on two separate occasions to block our Mindtree deal and then taking possession of our Coffee Day shares, although revised returns have been filed by us".
The assignment was earlier given to global audit firm EY. But it has now been reassigned owing to 'certain conflict of interest', the Bengaluru-based company said.
The company board, wherein Siddhartha's wife Malavika Hegde is also a director, met on Wednesday to put in place a working structure of the company.
Attributing the delay in debt servicing to a liquidity crisis, the company said its total indebtedness was Rs 518 crore.
The 58-year-old businessman, who is also the son-in-law of former Karnataka Chief Minister SM Krishna, has been missing since Monday evening from Mangaluru.
Mallya remains on bail pending his UK High Court appeal, now scheduled for February 2020.
Taxmen also claimed that the signature of Siddhartha on the letter being circulated on the social media under his name "does not match" with the record available with the department.
Among other things, the company is considering monetising the Global Village tech park located off Mysore Road in Bengaluru, for which private equity major Blackstone was said to have shown interest.
Experts, political parties raise red flag over timber exports from there; Siddhartha denies any rule breach
Mindtree plans to recommend to its investors not to subscribe to the open offer, citing low offer price, among key reasons. The founders were exploring several other options, including coming out with a counter open offer, with the backing of a financial investor.
The open offer is slated to commence on June 17 and close on June 28
Ashok Soota, former chairman of IT firm MindTree, on Thursday sold half of his 11.4 per cent stake in the company in a block deal.
A family man with two sons, who made it a point to attend all weddings and occasions in the community, Siddhartha is known by everyone as the quintessential 'nice guy' CEO -- never yelling, raising his voice or screaming at his employees, says Pavan Lall.
The Zee saga will see a long-drawn-out court battle before shareholders get any chance to vote on any proposal by the management or Invesco, says Prosenjit Datta.
L&T -- which has two subsidiaries L&T Infotech and L&T Technology Services -- is keen to bring Mindtree under its fold to exponentially raise its client base and product offering.
L&T received bids for 5.54 crore shares on Thursday at the close of market hours. This is 108.09 per cent higher than the total offer, as per information available on the BSE. The open offer - for Rs 980 a share - opened on June 17 and is scheduled to close on Friday.
Siddhartha's knack for value investment dates back to 1995 when he infused capital in Kshema Technologies, which was acquired by MphasiS. He also took an early exposure in Mindtree way back in 1999. Since 1995, he had invested in more than 15 technology companies including chip-designing firm Ittiam Software, and GlobalEdge Technologies, among others, says Debasis Mohapatra.
If there is a morality tale here, it is that debt and death spare no king.
Balakrishnan refused to react to the India Inc criticism of growing incidents of tax terrorism following Siddhartha's letter. Appearing unfazed, he said, "I only believe in doing my job well."
Shankar Sharma-promoted First Global group has called off its acquisition of Way2Wealth Securities, a financial services company in the retail space, for non-compliance with certain clauses in the pact by the sellers.
L&T is pursuing a controlling stake of 66 per cent in the mid-tier IT firm, for Rs 10,700 crore.
Chatterjee said the compNY is not aware of any major client concerns at this point.
'I am indirectly related to VG Siddhartha. Excellent human and brilliant entrepreneur. I am devastated with the contents of his letter,' Mallya said on Twitter.
Reports had suggested that the construction major had asked Ravanan to step down as the new owners were preparing the grounds for a top management overhaul at the Bengaluru-based company.
CBDT has sought explanation from B R Balakrishnan, former director-general of I-T (investigation wing) and former principal chief commissioner of I-T for Karnataka and Goa, who had ordered attachment of CCD's shares when he was in charge of the Bengaluru region. He retired last month.
Sical Logistics' board of directors, which met to consider approval of the June quarter financial results, asked the management to come out with recommendations for the same.
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