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The Company Law Board (CLB) has appointed a retired judge from the Karnataka high court to run Bangalore-based Vasudev Adiga’s Fast Food, following a dispute between the company’s promoter K N Vasudeva Adiga and South Asia Gastronomy Enterprises (formerly NSR Gastronomy Mauritius), a part of private equity firm New Silk Route. The new administrator will also replace the board of directors of the company, in which New Silk Route holds a 36 per cent stake.
The ex-judge K N Keshavanarayana will now head a management committee, which will replace the current board of directors. The committee will have four members - two from promoter Vasudeva Adiga and two from South Asia Gastronomy Enterprises.
The CLB has also directed that a meeting of the committee be held within seven days to take stock of the day-to-day affairs of the company and take appropriate action.
The dispute is between the original promoters and the PE investor related to ownership and the day-to-day running of the company. This has resulted in a situation where the operations have come to a standstill.
Adiga accused the private equity partners of illegally removing him as the managing director of the company. He also alleged the partner tried to expel the promoters from the business. NSR’s counter argument was that the original promoters were constantly interfering in the affairs of the company, even after the appointment of a professional as Chief Executive Officer, bringing the operations to a halt.
The multi-cuisine restaurant chain was founded in 1994 by Adiga, whose family has been in the restaurant business for about 40 years. The family runs the famous Brahmin’s Coffee Bar (established in 1965) at Basavanagudi in Bangalore.
