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Can Malavika Siddhartha Hegde rescue Café Coffee Day?
The coffee chain has come a long way since the 2019 crisis. But its pile of debt and inability to raise capital pose a threat to its survival.
14 February, 2023•11 min
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14 February, 2023•11 min
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Editor's note: In December 2020, when Malavika Siddhartha Hegde, wife of Café Coffee Day founder V.G. Siddhartha, took over as the company's CEO, she had an uphill task. There were lenders queuing up to be paid, foreign and domestic investors were selling their stakes in the flagship company—Coffee Day Enterprises Ltd—and, to add to her problems, markets regulator SEBI was investigating fund diversion from the company to other entities related to the promoters. The founder's demise had opened a Pandora's box of troubles for the company and revealed gaps in its corporate governance. Despite the challenges, Hegde, in a letter to employees in 2020, made it clear that she was “resolutely committed to the future of Coffee Day as a going concern”. She listed out her future course of action as well. “[Siddhartha] has left me a job to do, to settle every lender to the best of my ability, to grow the business and to enthuse and foster our employees.” And, in the last two years, she’s pretty much stuck to script, keeping the focus on reducing costs and increasing other …
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