Satyam board meets; no word on short-list

The government-appointed board of Satyam Computer Services today met to scrutinise the bids for the troubled IT major but did not make any names public.

The board, along with investment advisors Goldman Sachs and Avendus, met “to weed out the prospective suitors that submitted expressions of interest (EoIs) but failed to meet the criteria, including showing the required cash back-up”, said a source close to the development.

Board Chairman Kiran Karnik walked away without commenting. Sources said six-seven bidders had been shortlisted.

Yesterday, three Indian players, Larsen & Toubro, the Spice group and Tech Mahindra, had independently confirmed that they had completed the second round of the bidding process by putting in Rs 1,500 crore in an escrow account. Global majors like IBM and Hewlett-Packard are also understood to have entered the second round, but this could not be independently confirmed. Other names floating included KKR Private Equity Investors.

Based on the EoIs, the eligible bidders will be given access to certain business, financial and legal diligence material relating to Satyam after they execute a non-disclosure and non-solicitation agreement, a stand-still agreement and a “no-claims” undertaking.

iGate, which had participated in the first round of bidding, backed out from the second round. Earlier, the Hindujas group had decided to opt out of the race.

All the bidders are understood to have asked the board for a complete disclosure of all liabilities. Tech Mahindra has even sought a record of the forex losses and whether the company has any inter-corporate deposits. Most bidders, however, believe the bidding process is a “shot in the dark” since the restated financial statements are unlikely before June, despite a huge team of Deloitte and KPMG forensic experts on this job.