Raju family also pledged Maytas stocks, assets as collateral

Just like Raju family pledged shares of Satyam Computer Services, it has also given stocks and real estate assets of Maytas Infrastructure as collateral to various financial institutions to raise funds.

According to sources, the family has pledged majority of its shareholding and real estate assets to various institutions. Two institutions, Maharashtra government’s financial arm,Sicom, and IFCI, confirmed that Maytas promoters had pledged shares around a year ago to raise resources. IL&FS too has similar exposure Maytas, said sources. However, this could not be confirmed.

“Among the collateral that Mytas has provided, we have marginal exposure to shares,” said a senior executive of Sicom. He refused to divulge any further detail.

IFCI, on the other hand, had disbursed Rs 100 crore to Maytas for its projects about a year back. These projects are located within Hyderabad. Maytas’ share price was hovered around Rs 700-Rs 800 during this period.

One of the lender said that they have not yet taken any call despite the Satyam fraud. “We have done our due diligence before we lent. Yes, we need to take a closer look at the company after the chairman’s resignation and the fraud atSatyam. So far, there appears to be no danger to our funds and we have not come to a conclusion that there is a problem with Maytas too. So, we are not flexing our muscles yet,” said a senior executive with a lender.

Since Satyam has announced the takeover of Maytas Infrastructure, the share prices have had a free fall. On December 16, the stock opened at Rs 490. On Friday, the stock closed at Rs 151.1, or down around 70 per cent, since the deal was announced.

B Teja Raju, vice chairman at Maytas, looks after the day-to-day running of the company and directly holds 2.53 per cent stake. The Bombay Stock Exchange’s record shows that the promoter family holds 36.64 per cent of the total shares of Maytas Infra.

But sources said that the family holds over 80 per cent of the shares through affiliates. About 60 per cent of the total shares is pledged with financial institutions, sources said.