Promoter holding in Satyam drops to 5.13%

The promoter holding in Satyam Computer Services has dropped by over three per cent to 5.13 per cent following share sale by lenders, with whom Ramalinga Raju and family had pledged all their shares.

In a stock exchange filing, the company said that Satyam Chairman Ramalinga Raju held 8.27 per cent stake through SRSR at the end of the September quarter. However, this has come down as the lenders have sold 21 million shares in open market transactions.

After the sale, SRSR Holdings now holds 34.5 million shares, representing 5.13 per cent stake in Satyam, which includes over 21.9 million pledged shares already transferred to lenders, the filing added. This means the promoter holding may come down further.

Earlier the company had said that the promoters had pledged their entire equity holding of 8.61 per cent to the institutional investors, which include ICICI Prudential, Aberdeen Asset Management and Fidelity. The institutional investors together hold 60 per cent stake in the IT major.
 

STEADY DECLINE
Year	Promoter stake (in %)
Mar 2001	25.60
Mar 2002	22.26
Mar 2003	20.74
Mar 2004	17.35
Mar 2005	15.67
Mar 2006	14.02
Mar 2007	8.79
Dec 2008	5.13

Separately, a bulk deal transaction disclosure on the National Stock Exchange showed that institutional investor IL&FS today sold off 4.4 million shares in Satyam for Rs 77.91 crore.

According to the bulk deal data available on the National Stock Exchange, IL&FS Trust Company sold these shares at Rs 176 a share. The scrip closed at Rs 177.5 on the Bombay Stock Exchange.

The promoters of Satyam used to own as much as 25.6 per cent of the equity in the company till a few years ago before reducing their stake in phases. A look at the shareholding pattern of the company over the years reveals that the promoters held 25.60 per cent equity in March 2001, but reduced it every year thereafter. By March 2002, the stake got reduced to 22.26 per cent and further to 20.74 per cent in March 2003.

The promoters held 17.35 per cent stake in March 2004, which went down to 15.67 per cent in March 2005 and 14.02 per cent in March 2006.

The biggest reduction came in March 2007 when the stake went down to single digits at 8.79 per cent.