Coffee Day’s deceased founder’s private company owed Rs 3500 crore to the firm: Report

An investigation report released by Coffee Day Enterprises Ltd on Friday has revealed, that company Mysore Amalgamated Coffee Estates Ltd also linked to the deceased entrepreneur and owner of Coffee Day, V G Siddhartha, owed the coffee chain a staggering 35.35 billion rupees.

Coffee Day founder V G Siddhartha who was found dead in a river in Southern India in July 2019, was under considerable financial duress.

Coffee Day had appointed an investigator to probe into its accounts after a letter purportedly written by Siddhartha emerged.

The investigation has now revealed that Mysore Amalgamated Coffee Estates Ltd a business partner of Coffee Day, also separately linked to owner Siddhartha, owed the company 35.35 billion rupees as of July 31, 2019, as per a Reuters report.

The report published by Coffee Day also states 27 billion rupees is yet to be accounted for.

The report adds that a significant portion of the amount was spent to buy back share from private equity owners, repay loans, and fund investments that weren’t in the purview of the inquiry.

The report also added that Coffee Day currently has a 32 billion rupees debt and also stated that the company is now in the process of selling off more assets in order to raise cash and eliminate debt.

Coffee Day is one of India’s largest coffee chains and has more than 1,000 outlets across the country.