Coffee Day board...

The mandate of the audit firm includes all kinds of audits including forensic one, they added. In its last boardmeet held on July 31, the board had roped in law firm Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas as its legal counsel to advise on related matters.

During Thursday’s marathon board meet, stretching for more than six hours, Malavika Hegde, wife of late Coffee Day founder, was appointed as an additional member of the executive committee. Currently, the executive committee is vested with all the powers of then chairman and CEO and comprises the group's interim chairman S V Ranganath, chairman of real estate subsidiary Tanglin Nitin Bagmane and group CFO R Ram Mohan.

Among directors, Albert Hieronimusan independent director on the board- had flown down from Germany to Bengaluru to attend Thursday's meet while Sanjay Nayar, the country head of KKR and a nominee director, joined through audio conference. Malavika Hegde was not able to attend the meet as she had to attend some rituals in Chikmagalur, which is the home town of Coffee Day founder.

However, according to industry watchers, the outcome of the board meeting was devoid of any specifics regarding deleveraging the balance sheet of the firm. “This is vague because it is not clear whether they will explore to sell it or continue with the expansion or go for fundraising,” an analyst said. Sources close to the company had earlier told BusinessStandard that the company was considering monetising its Global Village tech park located offMysore Road in Bengaluru to reduce its debt to around ~3,000 crore from ~6,500 crore now. The company was also looking at roping in a strategic investor in the coffee retail chain business. However, Thursday’s meet was silent on such strategic moves.

Meanwhile, the share price of Coffee Day Enterprises was on a free fall and touched a new 52-week low of ~76.85 on Thursday on the NSE.