Blackstone's proposal for Coffee Day's tech park agreement likely next week

Private equity major Blackstone is likely to submit its final proposal for acquiring Global Village Tech Park, owned by Coffee Day Enterprises’ (CDEL) subsidiary Tanglin Developments, in the next three days. The board of CDEL is awaiting final proposal after which it will take a call, sources privy to the discussion, said.

On August 14, CDEL had announced its intent to sell Global Village Tech Park to Blackstone for a valuation of Rs 2,600 crore-Rs 3,000 crore.

Once done, the deal would provide substantial relief to the group by reducing its overall debt, which stood at Rs 4,970 crore. Multiple persons privy to company’s deleveraging efforts said IDFC Securities had started renegotiating with lenders on the repayment terms. “IDFC has started negotiating with banks and lenders. It has to be negotiated with each of the lenders (after which the due diligence will happen),” said one of the persons cited above. 

Last week, CDEL had appointed IDFC Securities as a consultant to advise the company on refinancing existing debt and repaying of current debt. It will also evaluate strategic options for the firm, including divestment of CDEL’s holding in Coffee Day Global and other group companies. “The process of finding out suitors will begin once refinancing of debt is completed,” the person said.  

Sources said Sical Logistics was zeroing on its deleveraging steps with the help of ICICI Securities. “Any concrete proposal is yet to come. However, the company is likely to submit some proposals to the board in the next two-three days,” the person said. 

Meanwhile, the probe for finding the truth behind the purported letter written by Coffee Day Group founder V G Siddhartha has already started by former DIG of Central Bureau of Investigation Ashok Kumar Malhotra. Late last month, the company had hired Malhotra to investigate the contents of the letter. 

“The work has started and he had sought for certain information, which has been provided by company officials. He has been authorised to take help of legal or chartered accountants. There are issues beyond the realm of accountancy and he is a professional investigator of high repute (who can get to the roots of the matter),” another person said.

After the death of V G Siddhartha, CDEL is pursuing many steps to reduce its debt liability and has earlier appealed its creditors and lenders to provide sufficient time for honouring its repayment obligations.

By the end of July, Coffee Day Group’s total liability stood at Rs 4,970 crore. While its subsidiary Tanglin Developments’ debt stood at Rs 1,622 crore, and its flagship coffee retailing arm, Coffee Day Global’s total debt was at Rs 1,097 crore by the end of this period.