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Coffee Day Enterprises Appoints SV Ranganath As Interim Chairman
31 Jul 2019, 04:40 PM IST 
SV Ranganath is an independent director on the board of Coffee Day Enterprises
- The board also decided to appoint Nitin Bagmane, chairman of Coffee Day Enterprises unit Tanglin Developments, as an interim chief operating officer of the company, according to the filing.
- "The Board noted with profound regrets the tragic demise of Mr VG Siddhartha and his matchless energy, vision and business acumen which helped to single-handedly build the Company," it added.
- The Coffee Day Enterprises board also appointed Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas as its legal counsel to advise it on the foregoing and related matters, it said after the meeting, which began at 10:30 am and concluded at 1 pm.
- The company also said it took cognizance of statements in the purported letter from Mr Siddhartha relating to financial transactions outside the knowledge of the senior management, auditors and the board.
- Coffee Day Enterprises had on Tuesday released a letter purportedly written by Mr Siddhartha to the board.
- The letter, printed on a white sheet of paper bearing Mr Siddhartha's name boldly on top and Coffee Day's address at the bottom, is addressed to the company's board and employees.
- "I gave it my all but today I gave up as I could not take any more pressure from one of the private equity partners forcing me to buy back shares," according to the letter dated July 27.
- The harassment by tax officials and pressure from lenders led to a "serious liquidity crunch", it added.
- "While the authenticity of the letter is unverified and it is unclear whether these statements pertain to the Company or the personal holdings of Mr VG Siddhartha, the Board took serious note of the same and resolved to thoroughly investigate this matter," the company said in its regulatory filing on Wednesday afternoon.
- Shares in Coffee Day Enterprises hit an all-time low on Wednesday, and ended lower for a sixth session in a row.
(With inputs from agencies)
