Malavika Hegde, the wife of Coffee Day’s late founder V G Siddhartha takes charge as its new CEO
Coffee Day Enterprises Ltd (CDEL) on Monday said Malavika Hegde, the wife of its late founder V G Siddhartha, has been appointed as the company’s new Chief Executive Officer. Malavika Hegde is the daughter of former Karnataka chief minister SM Krishna.
Bengaluru-based CDEL runs hundreds of Cafe Coffee Day restaurants and coffee shops across India that brew cappuccinos and lattes for India’s booming moneyed class and compete with the likes of Starbucks Corp, Barista and Coca-Cola Co-owned Costa Coffee. CDEL has 49 subsidiaries.
During the board meeting CH Vasudhara Devi, Giri Devanur and Mohan Raghavendra Kondi were also appointed as independent directors of the company.
The appointment is for five years, effective from December 31, 2020.
“Malavika Hegde, Director of the company, has been appointed as CEO of the company with effect from 7th December 2020,” CDEL said in a regulatory filing with SEBI. “This intimation also fulfils the requirement of appointing Woman Independent Director pursuant to SEBI (LODR) (Amendment) Regulations, 2018,” it added.
It’s been more than a year since Cafe Coffee Day founder VG Siddhartha died of suicide. Last year in July, Cafe 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, reportedly to the tune of Rs 11,000 crore. In an unverified letter, Siddhartha had also alleged harassment from Income Tax officials.
After his death, Coffee Day Enterprises named independent board member SV Ranganath as interim chairman of the group.
In July this year, an investigation into the circumstances that led to the alleged suicide of Siddhartha revealed that Rs 3,535 crore was siphoned off from the company by the entrepreneur’s personal firm Mysore Amalgamated Coffee Estates Ltd (MACEL).
In August, the Coffee Day Group said it has appointed Justice K L Manjunath, a former judge of the Karnataka High Court, to suggest and oversee actions for recovery of dues.
The company had said it was taking steps for recovery of dues from MACEL, while disclosing the findings of the investigation.
CDEL in September last year had 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.
Earlier, it had sold CDEL’s stake in IT firm Mindtree to L&T Infotech.
With Malavika Hegde appointment as the CEO of the Coffee Day Enterprise Limited (CDEL), it looks the business is on a revival mode for the company. It’s also reported that Cafe Coffee Day (CCD) outlets across the country, which were struggling due to poor patronage during the COVID-19 pandemic, have seen business returning. Of the 1,400 plus outlets across the country, around 800 of them are functioning and have started generating operational profits with guests returning to them. Hegde’s appointment is also seen by the market experts as a step in the right direction as she knows about the business, the company and the people and has the capability to run the business smoothly on a day-to-day basis.
