Café Coffee Day operator hires EY to evaluate potential suitors

By Debjyoti Roy

  • 05 Jun 2020
Credit: VCCircle

Coffee Day Global, which owns the Café Coffee Day (CCD) chain founded by the late VG Siddhartha, has appointed Ernst & Young to perform due diligence of the parties interested to buy the chain.

The board of Coffee Day Enterprises Ltd has appointed the global professional services firm to provide interim business support and to evaluate proposals of the potential investors, as per a stock market disclosure.

In the past, global beverages giant Coca Cola and US-based private equity firm TPG are known to be bidding to acquire Coffee Day Global.

Coffee Day plunged into turmoil at the end of July last year following the death of founder VG Siddhartha, who committed suicide. 

A letter, purportedly written by Siddhartha, had mentioned an unnamed PE partner as pressuring him into a share buyback, and “harassment” from tax authorities, among other reasons for the suicide.

Separately, Coffee Day Enterprises had appointed IDFC Securities Ltd to explore divestment opportunities for the group and to refinance its existing debt. 

The group has been in talks to liquidate some of its assets. In August, PE giant Blackstone acquired its Bengaluru tech park for close to Rs 3,000 crore.