Decoding VG Siddhartha's letter: Which private equity partner forced CCD founder to buy back shares?

In a letter to the company's directors and employees, the Chairman of Coffee Day Enterprises VG Siddhartha said that he has "given up" in the face of pressure from one of the private equity partners to buy back shares.

"I fought for a long time but today I gave up as I could not take any more pressure from one of the private equity partners forcing me to buy back shares, a transaction I had partially completed six months ago by borrowing a large sum of money from a friend. Tremendous pressure from other lenders led to me succumbing to the situation," Siddhartha wrote in his alleged last letter where his signatures are distinctly different from those on the annual report.

Who could it be? Four overseas corporate bodies hold substantial stake in Siddhartha's Coffee Day Enterprises with 4.72 crore, or 22.35 per cent, shares between them. Out of them, NLS Mauritius LLC holds the maximum 2.24 crore shares (10.61 per cent) of the company.

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KKR Mauritius PE Investments II Ltd is the second biggest overseas corporate investor in Coffee Day Enterprise with 1.28 crore shares (6.07 per cent). Notably, KKR India CEO Sanjay Omprakash Nayar sits on the board of Coffee Day Enterprises as a Non-Executive and Nominee Director.

Marina West (Singapore) and Marina III (Singapore) are the remaining two overseas corporate investors, with 97.73 lakh (4.63 per cent) and 22.01 lakh shares (1.04 per cent) respectively.

Besides, Coffee Day Enterprises even has Nandan Nilekani among its shareholders. The entire stake in the company is divided between the promoters group and public shareholders of the company.

ALSO READ: Cafe Coffee Day shares slump 20% to hit all-time low after founder VG Siddhartha goes missing

The promoter group comprises six members, including VG Siddhartha and his wife Malavika Hegde. The promoters jointly own 11.39 crore fully paid up equity shares of Coffee Day Enterprises, amounting to 53.93 per cent stake in the company.

Siddhartha and Malavika hold 7.77 crore fully paid up CCD equity shares, or 36.80 per cent of the total shares, between them. Individually, Siddhartha owns 6.92 crore equity shares, which amounts to 32.75 per cent. Malavika, daughter of former Karnataka Chief Minister SM Krishna, holds 85.62 lakh equity shares, or 4.05 per cent.

The remaining four entities in the promoter group - Devadarshini Info Technologies, Coffee Day Consolidations, Gonibedu Coffee Estates and Sivan Securities - cumulatively own 3.62 crore equity shares. This comes up to 17.13 per cent of the total shares of the company.

ALSO READ: Cafe Coffee Day founder VG Siddhartha's signature on letter differs from signature on company's annual reports

The public shareholders of Coffee Day Enterprises own the remaining 46.07 per cent stake in the company, which stacks up to 9.73 crore equity shares. Infosys non-executive Chairman Nandan Nilekani also has stake in Siddhartha's company, with 56.81 lakh, or 2.69 per cent, shares to his name. One Kammargodu Ramchandregowda Sudhir holds 2.49 per cent or 52.5 lakh shares in the company. One global government pension fund owns 2.31 per cent stake in the company with 48.7 lakh shares to its name.

Siddhartha also talked about "harassment from the previous DG income tax" where he was blocked from selling his Mindtree shares earlier this year. "This was very unfair and has led to a serious liquidity crunch," he wrote.

(Edited by Vivek Punj)