The board of Coffee Day Enterprises, which met on Wednesday in the aftermath of the death of its promoter and CMD V.G. Siddhartha, has rejigged the top management of the cafe chain. While Non-Executive lndependent Director S.V. Ranganath has been named the interim chairman, Nitin Bagmane will be the interim COO. The trio of Ranganath, Bagmane and CFO R. Ram Mohan will together carry out the functions of CEO, which was previously performed by Siddhartha.
In addition, the board has also appointed Cyril Amarchand to advise company on matters referred to in Siddartha's letter. Reportedly, the executive commitee of Coffee Day Enterprises will explore deleveraging options and is set to discuss issues with statutory auditors ahead of the next board meeting on August 8.
Siddhartha's wife Malavika Hegde is also a director of the company board. The new executive committee, comprising Ranganath, Bagmane and Ram Mohan, will also be vested with the powers of the administrative committee constituted by the board in 2015, a statement from the company said.
The board expressed its condolences to Siddhartha's family and resolved to lend its support and expressed full confidence in the company's management team. "The board also took note of a message from Malavika Hegde expressing support and trust in the company's professional team and the common effort to look after the interest of the employees and all other stakeholders," it stated. "The board remains deeply committed to safeguarding the interests of all stakeholders, including investors, lenders, employees and customers."
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The board also took cognisance of the purported letter written by Siddhartha and said that it would investigate the claims, including the "financial transactions outside the knowledge of the senior management, auditors and the board".
In the letter, surfaced hours after Siddharta's disappearance, he said that he tried to put up a fight for long, but gave up after incessant pressure from one of the private equity partners and the Income Tax department. "...a lot of harassment from the previous DG income tax in the form of attaching our shares on two separate occasions to block our Mindtree deal and then taking position of our Coffee Day shares, although the revised returns have been filed by us," the letter read.
However, the Income Tax Department, refuting the charges raised by the CCD CMD, said the provisional attachment made by the department was undertaken to protect the "interests of revenue" and was based on credible evidence gathered in the search or raid action. They also raised doubts on the signature of Siddhartha on the letter, saying it "does not match" with the record available with the department.
Siddhartha's body had washed ashore near Ullal and was fished out by local fishermen early morning on Wednesday. The coffee tycoon had gone missing from Ullal bridge on Netravati river where his driver had dropped him on Monday evening.
The last rites of Siddhartha will be held Wednesday evening at 5pm in his native village Chikkenahalli in Karnataka's Chikkamagaluru. Siddhartha's body has been taken from Wenlock Hospital near Mangaluru to Chikkenahalli, where his aged parents reside. Siddhartha was their only son.