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The Tata Group, which was in the advanced stages of talks to acquire Cafe Coffee Day’s (CCD) vending machine business for at least ₹1,000 crore, has put the deal on the back-burner following the latter heading for bankruptcy.
A Tata Group firm, Tata Consumer Products, was in talks to acquire the CCD’s coffee vending business, held through a subsidiary Coffee Day Global Ltd (CGDL).
“The deal was in the final legs, permissions from CDGL’s lenders were also obtained. However, it has been put on hold as CCD lenders are believed to be moving National Company Law Tribunal under Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, which would completely complicate the takeover plans. In case of a bankruptcy filing, the deal would have to be re-worked all-over again,” a source close to the development said.
The deal, which was initially stuck on a valuation issue, had earlier received no-objection certificates from most of the CDGL’s 14 lenders. The companies also needed various regulatory approvals to close the deal and was believed to be in the process of obtaining them.
“The company evaluates various opportunities on an ongoing basis. As a policy, we do not comment on speculative information,” Tata Consumer Products said in an email reply, while CCD declined to comment.
Coffee Day Enterprises Ltd (CDEL), which owns the CCD chain, had defaulted on loans during the March quarter, following which its lenders were considering taking the company to the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT).
In a regulatory filing on March 6, the company said its loans or revolving facilities like cash credit from banks and financial institutions was at ₹280 crore. The listed entity’s total financial indebtedness, including short-term and long-term debt, was at ₹580 crore.
The company opened its first cafe outlet on Brigade Road in Bangalore in 1996. CDEL was also the largest organised retail cafe chain in the country, with a presence in select international locales. In July, its owner VG Siddhartha committed suicide, and last year the company sold its IT park to Blackstone group for ₹2,700 crore.
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