The private equity firm KKR Investments has multiple investing arms in India including KKR Advisors, KKR Mauritius, and KKR Jupiter, all with Sanjay Nayar at the helm. KKR India CEO Sanjay Omprakash Nayar sits on the board of Coffee Day Enterprises as a Non-Executive and Nominee Director, and is rumored to have been the private equity investor who forced VG Siddhartha to buy back Cafe Coffee Day shares.
This allegation is of no surprise to people who know of KKR. The private equity company, headquartered in the US, grew famous in the 1970s and 1980s for leveraged buyouts, breaking up massive firms like RJR Nabisco and Beatrice Foods.
VGS's wife Malavika Hegde bought back 4.26% of shares from KKR in Feb 2018 via insider trades. VGS has been steadily pledging shares of Coffee Day Enterprises throughout 2019. The sad demise of VGS has brought fresh attention to these transactions. VGS has claimed that certain buyback transactions reduced the elbow room he had available in cutting down company debt.
YES Bank met with Sanjay Nayar's KKR India Advisors last week, as part of its regular efforts to discuss investments and capital infusions. KKR has also via its various subsidiaries including its Mauritius arm, invested in Magma Fincorp, Bharti Infratel, IndiaGrid Trust and Max India.
KKR's other investments outside Coffee Day Enterprises include JBF Industries, which entered bankruptcy proceedings last year. The PE firm attempted to intervene when financial creditors to JBF including IDBI Bank tried to recover dues.