MILAN – Coffee Day Enterprises Ltd, the owner of the Café Coffee Day chain, on Monday said Malavika Hegde, the wife of its late founder V G Siddhartha, is the company’s new Chief Executive Officer. Hegde, Director of the company, has been appointed with effect from 7th December 2020, the company said in a regulatory filing. The company’s board in a meeting held on Monday also approved appointment of C H. Vasudhara Devi, Giri Devanur and Mohan Raghavendra Kondi as independent directors.
Last year in July, Café Coffee Day came in the news after VG Siddhartha mysteriously disappeared after stepping out of his car for a walk at a bridge near Mangaluru in Karnataka.
Two days later, authorities recovered his body from a nearby river. His death was declared a suicide. VG Siddhartha had reportedly taken the step after coming under immense financial strain. In an unverified letter, Siddhartha had also alleged harassment from Income Tax officials.
Siddhartha’s death plunged the company into an uncertain future and saw Coffee Day Enterprises shares crash as news of his death unfolded, before eventually being suspended from trading since February 3.
in September last year, it announced the sale of its Global Village Tech Park in Bengaluru to global investment firm Blackstone and realty firm Salarpuria Sattva at an enterprising value of Rs 2,700 crore (US$365.7 million). Earlier, it had sold its stake in IT firm Mindtree to L&T Infotech.
Siddhartha, 59, was widely known for having brought coffee shop culture in India. With his strong leadership, he took Coffee Day to great heights.
Bengaluru-based Café Coffee Day runs hundred coffee shops across India and is quite popular amongst youngsters and office goers.
In a letter addressed to employees of Coffee Day Enterprisesand its subsidiaries in July this year, Malavika Hegde wrote that she was “resolutely committed to the future of Coffee Day as a going concern,” which she described as “a genuine Indian consumer story worth preserving.”
