Mindtree says L&T categorised as promoter with 60.06 pc stake; Nalanda sheds stake in open offer

Nalanda India Fund and Nalanda India Equity Fund have sold majority of their holding in Mindtree Ltd in the recent open offer launched by Larsen and Toubro (L&T), which is now a promoter of the Bengaluru-based IT firm with 60.06 per cent stake.

IT firm Mindtree, in a regulatory filing on Wednesday, said L&T has "acquired control" of the company with a 60.06 per cent stake and has been categorised as promoter.

The development is significant as the Mindtree founders had initially resisted the hostile takeover bid and had also tried to rally support of large investors in the initial weeks of the drama.

"We wish to inform that Larsen & Toubro Limited has acquired equity shares to an extent 60.06 per cent of the total shareholding of the company and has acquired control and is categorised as promoter pursuant to Sebi...Regulations, 2018," Mindtree said in a regulatory filing.

Construction major L&T held 9.87 crore equity shares in Mindtree as on July 2 following its recently-concluded open offer, according to the filing by the Bengaluru-based tech firm.

In a separate BSE filing, Mindtree also said Nalanda India Fund and Nalanda India Equity Fund, which held 10.60 per cent stake in Mindtree, sold about 8.90 per cent stake by tendering shares in the open offer. It held 1.71 per cent stake after the said transaction.

L&T had Tuesday said it has made payments to shareholders who tendered their shares successfully in the open offer, which closed on June 28.

In a deal that had marked India's first-ever hostile takeover bid in the IT space, L&T 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, and then shored up its holding with more shares from the open market, and a subsequent open offer for additional 31 per cent stake.