Business Today – August 25, 2019

Coffee Day International, Tanglin Developments,
Giri Vidhyuth (India), Vaitarna Holding, Vakrathun-
da Holding, and Vaitarna Timber Trading. His busi-
nesses ranged from coffee trading and plantation to
real estate and financial investments.
The current holding company, Coffee Day Enter-
prises or CDEL, which is listed, was originally formed
as a partnership firm in February 2008 under the
name Coffee Day Holding Company. It was converted
into a private limited company, Coffee Day Holdings.
The name changed to Coffee Day Resorts in 2010,
which eventually became Coffee Day Enterprises Pri-
vate Ltd, for which a fresh certificate of incorporation
was issued by the Registrar of Companies on August
6, 2014. The company went public in January 2015.
During 2000-10, the companies achieved sig-
nificant milestones. In 2000, through his investment
company Global Technology Ventures, Siddhartha
invested in Mindtree for about 7 per cent stake. Over
the years, this increased to 20 per cent. Ashok Soota,
a Co-founder and former CEO of Mindtree, recalled
how they couldn’t have asked for a better investor to
start the company. “We were really, really lucky with
our first two VCs. He was a superb investor and he
gave us all the freedom,” Soota had said in an ear-
lier interview with BT. Siddhartha also introduced

Mindtree to some of its critical clients like Franklin

Templeton, and later convinced the company to move

into his ‘Global Village’ on Mysore Road developed

by one of subsidiaries. “He clearly saw the upside to

his investment but at the same time, he wanted to be

a ‘White Knight’,” said Soota. Global Technology Ven-

tures (now Coffee Day Trading), another subsidiary,

had by then already funded close to 17 IT start-ups

including Mindtree, Kshema Technologies, Arzoo.

com, Liqwid Krystal and iVega Corp, among others.,

These were busy years for coffee, related busi-

nesses and the construction business. The ‘Fresh &

Ground’ coffee powder retail stores of CCD expanded

across South India. In 2005, CCD set up its first in-

ternational café in Vienna through a subsidiary. In

2006, Tanglin Development launched its first SEZ

‘Global Village’ and also a hospitality venture, Coffee

Day Holiday Resorts, under the brand name ‘The Se-

rai’ in Chikkamagaluru. By late-2000, Starbucks was

seriously looking at India, and Siddhartha wanted to

have scale before more competition arrived.

K. Ramakrishnan (Ramki), former President of

Marketing at CCD, which he had joined in 2010 and

stayed on till the pre-IPO days, said: “As a boss he

was inspiring and demanding at the same time. He

could envisage the future and simultaneously attend

August 25 I 2019 I BUSINESS TODAY I 25

KKR Mauritius PE

Investments II

Marina III

(Singapore) Pte

Marina West

(Singapore) Pte

NLS Mauritius

LLC

10.6

10.3

6.1

6.1

1.3

1.2

1.0

1.0

5.5

5.4

4.6

4.6

10.9

10.6

10.6

10.6

Jun 2019

Mar 2019

Dec 2017

Mar 2017

Source: Ace Equity

PRIVATE EQUITY

HOLDINGS (%)

SHAREHOLDING

PATTERN OF

COFFEE DAY

ENTERPRISES

Mutual

Funds

Foreign

Portfolio

Investors

Financial

Institutions/

Banks

0.1%

0.1%

5.6%

Total of

Promoter and

Promoter Group

53.9%

Others

17.9% Corporate Overseas

Bodies

22.4%

Data as on

June 30, 2019

Source: Ace

Equity

COVER STORY > V.G. SIDDHARTHA