NEW DELHI: Shares of Coffee Day Enterprises jumped 5 per cent in Thursday’s trade after an ET report suggested that private equity firms KKR and Apax Partners are the only ones left in the race for a significant stake purchase in Café Coffee Day (CCD), as three others including Oyo have backed out after showing early interest.
KKR and Apax Partners are now conducting due diligence of the coffee chain, three people familiar with the matter told ET.
Following the development, the stock jumped 5 per cent to hit a high of Rs 42.05 on BSE. The stock, however, cut gains and was later trading at Rs 41.45, up 3.5 per cent.
SoftBank-backed Oyo was believed to be interested only in the CCD brand which its owner Coffee Day Enterprises Ltd (CDEL) was unwilling to offer. On the other hand, TPG Capital and Bain Capital opted out mainly due to differences over valuation.
CCD, a KKR spokesperson and an Apax representative declined to comment. Oyo said it had no comment to offer. Bain Capital refused to comment and TPG did not respond to ET’s queries.
The board is expected to speed up talks with interested investors once the investigation report by former Central Bureau of Investigation official Ashok Kumar Malhotra is submitted. He is looking into a letter that CCD founder VG Siddhartha purportedly wrote to the board on July 27, two days before he went missing. He was found dead on July 31.
Source: Economic Times
