The discovery by the company of the petition on Oct. 10, five days after it was listed in a court gazette, came along with the uncovering of large holes in the cafe chain's finances, the arrest of its finance chief and suspension of trading in its shares.

The company has been saved for now by 20 million pounds of loans from its chairman, the entrepreneur Luke Johnson.

Patisserie also responded to media reports that two of its directors, Chief Executive Paul May, and finance director Chris Marsh, had been issued twice the number of shares it disclosed in official filings.

"The Company, as part of the ongoing investigation, is seeking to understand why the grant of options relating to 2015 and 2016 have not been appropriately disclosed and accounted for in its financial statements," it said in a separate statement.

(Reporting by Shariq Khan in Bengaluru; editing by Patrick Graham)