Coffee Day founder VG Siddhartha’s wife Malavika Hegde appointed as CEO

Malavika Hegde has been appointed CEO with effect from December 7.
Malavika Hegde
Malavika Hegde
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Coffee Day Global Ltd appointed its Director Malavika Hegde as the new Chief Executive Officer (CEO), filling the vacancy caused by the death of her husband V.G. Siddhartha in July 2019, the company said on Monday.

"Malavika Hegde has been appointed CEO with effect from December 7," said the city-based company in a regulatory filing on the BSE. Malavika, 51, is the daughter of senior BJP leader and former External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna and was the Director at the company before being appointed CEO.

Siddharth, who co-founded the country's largest coffee retail chain Cafe Coffee Day, was found dead on July 31, 2019 near Mangaluru. He is reported to have died by suicide due to huge financial losses in his businesses.

In a letter to the company's 25,000 employees on July 24, Malavika said she was committed to the future of Coffee Day as a going concern.

"We will work to reduce the debt to a manageable level by selling a few more investments as I am committed to the company's future," she said.

Malavika told employees at the time that she is fully aware of the requirements and responsibilities with regards to the transactions between VG Siddhartha’s publicly listed companies and his private entities that the report highlighted, and that she will fully cooperate with the Board and the concerned Authorities for a corrective course of action.

She also noted at the time that she’s still a novice, and that she has been left with a job to do, to settle every lender to the best of her ability and grow the business, and even foster and enthuse employees.

The company has pared its debt to Rs 3,200 crore from Rs 7,200 crore by selling parts of its assets, including properties and shares in subsidiaries.

Malavika is also fighting a cheque bounce case where a non-bailable warrant was issued against her by a magistrate court in Karnataka’s Mudigere on November 4 in connection with the cheque bounce case. This was after a coffee cultivator approached the Joint Magistrate First Class with a plea to arrest the accused, alleging that Coffee Day issued cheques to coffee cultivators twice, which bounced on both occasions.

The company also appointed C.H. Vasudhara Devi, Giri Devanur and Mohan Raghavendra Kondi as independent directors on the reconstituted board for 5 years from December 31, 2020 to December 30, 2025.

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