Cafe chain operator Coffee Day Enterprises on Tuesday said it is evaluating and assessing the situation after its chairman V.G. Siddhartha went missing since Monday evening.
The company's board has held emergency meeting following disappearance of its founder and chairman and managing director Siddhartha and also reviewed the letter purportedly signed by him and shared copies with relevant authorities, Coffee Day Enterprises said in a regulatory filing.
The company said it has resolved to co-operate with authorities.
The purported letter sent by Siddhartha to the CCD board claimed that he was being pressured by "one of the private equity partners" forcing him to buy back shares, a transaction he had partially completed six months ago by borrowing a large sum of money from "a friend".
"Deeply saddened", says KKR
Global buyout major KKR has said it is "deeply saddened" by the disappearance of Siddharth, the promoter of its investee company the coffee chain Cafe Coffee Day.
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In a purported letter sent to the company board and the employees of the coffee chain he founded, Siddharth had on July 27 said he was under pressure from one of the private equity partners to buy back shares.
KKR in a statement Tuesday said it had invested in the popular coffee chain nine years ago and part-exited the investment last year.
The fund statement added that it continues to hold about 6 percent in the company now down from 10.3 percent earlier.
"We are deeply saddened by the developments and our thoughts are with his family at this time. We believe in VG Siddhartha and had invested in the company about nine years ago," KKR said in a statement.
HDFC denies exposure to any companies
Mortgage major HDFC denied it has any exposure to any of the companies associated with Siddhartha. "HDFC had disbursed lease rental discounting loans to Tanglin Developments (CCD) for its project Global Village Tech Park in Bangalore. The entire loan was repaid in January 2019 and has no exposure to the Coffee Day Enterprises group as on date," an HDFC spokesperson said.
—With inputs from PTI
