Coffee Day defaults on Rs 263 crore payments

Bengaluru: Coffee Day Enterprises said it has Rs 518 crore of debt, including both short and long term, and that it has defaulted on about Rs 263 crore of payments. In a disclosure to stock exchanges, the Bengaluru-based company that runs a chain of Cafe Coffee Day outlets, said it owed Rs 280 crore, availed of as cash credits from banks or financial institutions, and another Rs 200 crore in unlisted debt services. It also owes interest on the defaulted loans.

A senior Coffee Day executive told ET that the company owed money to four lenders including Axis Bank, SSG Singapore and Aditya Birla Finance. These had been debts that had remained on the company's book since the time of founder VG Siddhartha's death, he said, not willing to be identified.

The company, he said, was waiting for the receipt of Rs 700 crore in second tranche payment from the Blackstone Group, which has bought out Global Technology Village in Bengaluru for Rs 2,700 crore.

While Blackstone has paid Rs 2,000 crore in March last year, Coffee Day is expecting the balance to come through in the next two months.

None of the four lenders, the executive quoted above said, had either moved or indicated at moving the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) for recovery of debts.

On receipt of Rs 700 crore from Blackstone, the company will first clear the debt of Tanglin Development, which had owned Global Technology Village, and use the balance to pay the four lenders proportionately.