L&T buys more shares of Mindtree; raises stake to 28.90 pc

Infrastructure major Larsen and Toubro on Thursday acquired 25,000 equity shares of Mindtree Ltd, taking its total holding in the mid-tier IT firm to 28.90 per cent, as per a regulatory filing.

The development assumes significance as L&T has been steadily increasing its holding in the Bengaluru-based tech firm where it acquired around 20 per cent stake of V G Siddhartha and Cafe Coffee Day, recently.

L&T, which has been pursuing a hostile takeover of Mindtree, has expressed its intent to ramp-up its shareholding up to 66 per cent.

"This is to inform you that Larsen and Toubro Ltd has acquired 25,000 equity shares (with face value of Rs 10 each) of Mindtree Ltd on June 6, 2019," L&T said in a regulatory filing.

The shares were purchased at Rs 971.03 a piece from the open market.

A rough calculation showed that the company spent close to Rs 2.43 crore for these transaction.

Following the transaction, the L&T's holding increased to 28.90 per cent (or 4.74 crore shares) against the previous 28.88 per cent, it said.

In March, L&T had mounted a hostile takeover bid on Mindtree when it entered into a deal to buy Cafe Coffee Day owner V G Siddhartha's 20.32 per cent stake in Mindtree and also placed an order with brokers to pick up another 15 per cent of the company shares from the open market.

Subsequent to these deals, L&T is required to make an open offer to buy additional stake. In all, the infrastructure major is eyeing up to 66 per cent stake in Mindtree for around Rs 10,800 crore.