Coffee Day Enterprises Limited (CDEL) on Monday appointed Malavika Hegde, wife of late VG Siddhartha Hegde, the founder of CDEL, as the new Chief Executive Officer. Siddhartha's sudden death had shaken the business world last year. He died by suicide in July 2019 and authorities recovered his body in a river near Mangaluru city. It was also reported that pressure from investors, income tax authorities and mounting debt allegedly forced him to take such a drastic step.
In July this year, after his tragic death, Hegde, who is the daughter of former Karnataka chief minister SM Krishna, joined the Cafe Coffee Day board to pay off the debts owed by her husband. She was married to Siddhartha for 32 years.
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Hegde became the chief executive officer, from her earlier role as non-executive director. “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. “This intimation also fulfils the requirement of appointing Woman Independent Director pursuant to SEBI (LODR) (Amendment) Regulations, 2018,” it added.
Her appointment came at a time when the coffee firm is dealing with huge losses. The famous coffee brand has hundreds of coffee shops running across India. Talking about her late husband and founder of Cafe Coffee Day, Hegde in July wrote to employees that even though the challenges for the company are “far from over” but she is cooperating with authorities and the board on “a corrective course of action.”
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At the same time, an investigation report revealed the debts Siddhartha owed and that his financial dealings were being reviewed. It also highlighted the details of a private entity owned by the late founder who owed Rs 2,693 crore to the listed entity, Coffee Day Enterprises Limited (CDEL). Hedge went on to write to the group’s 25,000 employees and assured that the Coffee Day story was “worth preserving”, the Times of India had reported.
Hegde wrote she was “resolutely committed to the future of Coffee Day as a going concern,” which she described as “a genuine Indian consumer story worth preserving.”
Feature Image Credit: AFP
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