CEO Ravanan, 2 others quit Mindtree after L&T takeover

Within days of L&T gaining control of Mindtree, the IT firm Friday said its Chief Executive Officer Rostow Ravanan, Chairman Krishnakumar Natarajan and Vice Chairman Parthasarathy NS have quit.

Over the last few weeks, there were speculations that Ravanan was on his way out. Reports had suggested that the construction major had asked Ravanan to step down as the new owners were preparing the grounds for a top management overhaul at the Bengaluru-based company.

"...at the board meeting held on July 5, 2019, Krishnakumar Natarajan (Executive Chairman), Parthasarathy NS (Executive Vice Chairman and Chief Operating Officer) and Rostow Ravanan (CEO and Managing Director) have submitted their resignations as members of the board of directors of Mindtree and as employees of the company," Mindtree said in a regulatory filing.

The filing added that these officials will stay as board members till July 17, 2019 and as employees in line with their employment contracts to ensure smooth transition.

Earlier this week, Mindtree had announced that L&T had acquired control of the company and had been categorised as a promoter with 60.06 per cent stake in the company. L&T held 9.87 crore equity shares in Mindtree as on July 2 following its recently-concluded open offer.

The development brought the curtains down on months of hostile takeover drama at the Bengaluru-based company.

L&T's takeover bid had been strongly resisted by Mindtree founders, who had also tried to rally support from large investors like Nalanda. Nalanda, incidentally, also sold majority of its holding in Mindtree during L&T's open offer.

L&T's takeover of Mindtree marked India's first-ever hostile takeover in the IT space. The infrastructure giant had bought 20.32 per cent shares in Mindtree from V G Siddhartha and his coffee enterprise for over Rs 3,000 crore in March. Later, it shored up its holding with more share purchases from the open market before making an open offer for an additional 31 per cent stake.

Last month, L&T secured three board positions at Mindtree - bringing in S N Subrahmanyan (L&T CEO and MD), Jayant Damodar Patil and Ramamurthi Shankar Raman. Their appointments are effective July 16 when Mindtree is scheduled to hold its annual general meeting (AGM).

Mindtree co-founder Subroto Bagchi, who is set to retire this month, had not offered himself for re-appointment to the board.

At the end of March 2019, Mindtree had eight members on its board, including Ravanan, Natarajan and Parthasarathy. It had four independent directors on its board - Apurva Purohit, Milind Sawarte, Akshaya Bhargava and Bijou Kurien.

Shares of Mindtree closed at Rs 888.05 on the BSE on Friday, 1.17 per cent lower than the previous close.