Live: Mindtree Coming Under L&T Group Will Benefit All Shareholders, AM Naik Says
Both Companies To Hold Press Conference Today
Both L&T and Mindtree is scheduled to hold separate press conferences today.
L&T’s conference is expected to begin at 11:30 a.m while Mindtree’s is salted to begin at 2:45 p.m.
L&T Looking To Expand Services Business, Says AM Naik
L&T Chairman AM Naik assured Mindtree coming under the L&T Group will be beneficial for all shareholders. “Strategically, we want to expand our services business,” Naik told BloombergQuint in an interview.
Mindtree To Consider A Buyback Tomorrow
The Indian tech company is now going to consider a buyback at its March 20 meeting, according to an exchange filing. Mindtree had cash worth Rs 162 crore, as of December 2018, according to its filings.
It also had investments worth Rs 811 crore which can be used for the potential buyback.
Mindtree Co-Founder Subroto Bagchi Returns To ‘Save The Company’
Subroto Bagchi, one of the founding members of Mindtree Ltd., resigned as the head of Odisha's Skill Development Authority to return to the information technology company in Bengaluru.
He announced the resignation on late Sunday night on Twitter, saying that he must protect the company from the people trying to destroy it.
Within hours of L&T’s formal announcement, Mindtree’s promoters condemned the move. “A hostile takeover by Larsen & Toubro, unprecedented in our industry, could undo all of the progress we’ve made and immensely set our organisation back,” a joint statement by Natarajan, Bagchi, Parthasarathy and Ravanan said.
We don’t see any strategic advantage in the transaction and strongly believe that the transaction will be value destructive for all shareholders.Mindtree Promoter Statement (March 19, 2019)
Mindtree Needs A White Knight, Says Former Chairman
Mindtree Ltd. needs a new white knight to fend off any hostile takeover, co-founder Ashok Soota said amid reports that Larsen and Toubro group is looking to acquire stake from single-largest shareholder VG Siddhartha.
Soota, former chairman of mid-sized software services provider, had exited the company by selling shares in the Bengaluru-based company to Siddhartha’s Coffee Day Group. Siddhartha has been a white knight for nine years and investor for 10 years, according to Soota.