L&T picks up Mindtree shares worth Rs 70 crore between May 27-30

Infrastructure major Larsen and Toubro (L&T) picked up 7.11 lakh shares of IT firm Mindtree between May 27-30 for about Rs 70 crore, according to regulatory data.

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 last month.

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.

According to BSE data, L&T acquired shares from the open market throughout the week (May 27-30) with the highest quantum of shares being purchased on May 28 when it picked up over 3.5 lakh shares of Mindtree at Rs 979.98 apiece.

A back-of-the-envelope calculation showed that the company spent close to Rs 70 crore during the week for these transactions, which took its overall shareholding to 28.88 per cent.

In multiple tranches, L&T mopped up more than 7.11 lakh shares during the said week. Shares of Mindtree ended flat at Rs 977.70 apiece on BSE on Friday (May 31).

In March, L&T 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.

L&T's open offer - which was earlier slated to begin on May 14 - has been delayed as the engineering major is awaiting nod from the Securities and Exchange Board of India. Emails sent to L&T didn't elicit a response.