Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. (KKR & Co. L.P.) is backing the financial services arm of Coffee Day Resorts Pvt Ltd (CDRL), promoted by V.G. Siddhartha. KKR’s NBFC is lending to Way2Wealth, the wealth management and financial services arm of Coffee Day Co., as a part of its larger debt raising initiative.
This comes after KKR, along with Standard Chartered Private Equity and New Silk Route Partners, invested Rs 960 crore or $200 million last year in Coffee Day Resorts, majority owner of India’s largest café chain Café Coffee Day. Earlier, the NBFC had also extended $85 million loan to V.G. Siddhartha to refinance a loan for one of the IT parks of the Coffee Day Group. The IT park comes under the Tanglin Developments, according to a media report.
“We can confirm that KKR, through its NBFC, has recently extended debt financing to Way2Wealth, a Coffee Day group firm, as part of the $30 million debt capital raising initiative by the group, for its growth requirements,” said a KKR spokesperson when contacted by VCCircle. KKR is the first global alternatives assets managers to move into fixed income in India, deploying over $1 billion through the NBFC. Incidentally, it has recently expanded its.
Way2Wealth specialises in equity, derivatives, currency futures, commodities trading, IPOs, mutual funds, portfolio management and depository services, and has on board a team of over 1000 wealth managers. It has recently acquired Techno Shares & Stocks Ltd, a mid-sized securities broking firm with predominantly western Indian presence. The firm has over 296 branches spread across 108 locations.
Way2Wealth is headed by CEO MR Shashibhushan, who was earlier heading the retail business at IL&FS Investsmart (acquired by HSBC in 2008).
Established in 1984 as Sivan Securities, a financial intermediary and incubator for IT start-ups, the Coffee Day Group had spun off its securities broking & investment banking arm as Way2Wealth in 2000 and its venture capital division as Global Technology Ventures (which is one of the largest shareholders in Mindtree).
In addition, Coffee Day Resorts also owns Tanglin Developments, which has recently acquired AC Muthiah Group firm Sical Logistics Ltd, marking the group’s entry into the logistics space. The group has also expanded into furniture business under Daffco.
