V G Siddhartha's death: Wrong to project us as villains, say PE leaders

Private equity (PE) funds, in the spotlight after the death of Coffee Café Day founder V G Siddhartha, have sought to dispel speculation about any wrongdoing in their funding methods. They say the notion that PE investors leverage bait-and-switch to lure promoters and entrepreneurs into lose-lose situations through debt products is misleading. 

A letter purportedly written by Siddhartha days before his death said: “I fought for a long time but today I gave up as I could not take any more pressure from one of the PE partners forcing me to buy back shares.” He had also alleged “tremendous pressure” from