Retail investors rue Mahindra Satyam, Tech Mahindra swap ratio

Some retail investors of Mahindra Satyam raised apprehensions over the stock swap ratio for the merger with parent Tech Mahindra at the Andhra Pradesh High Court-convened annual general meeting of the company in Hyderabad on Friday.

The retail investors feel the Tech Mahindra management should have waited till Mahindra Satyam improved its profitability and its share value, at least till 2014.

Retail investors hold 29.52 per cent and the promoters 42.64 per cent in Mahindra Satyam. The boards of directors of Tech Mahindra and Mahindra Satyam had, on March 21, 2012, approved the merger with a swap ratio of 2:17, giving shareholders two Tech Mahindra shares for every 17 owned in Mahindra Satyam.

Mahindra Satyam’s stock closed at Rs 76.70 on the BSE on Friday and Tech Mahindra’s at Rs 675.65.

Quoting Vineet Nayyar, chairman of Mahindra Satyam, a company spokesperson said, “The decision on the swap ratio had been taken after due diligence by consultants.” Tech Mahindra received its shareholders’ approval at a similar court-convened AGM held in Mumbai on June 7.

The Andhra Pradesh High Court, in its order in April, had directed a meeting of the equity shareholders of the company be convened and held on June 8 for the purpose of considering the proposed scheme of amalgamation.

While declining to quantify any numbers, Mahindra Satyam’s spokesperson said the process of counting the votes, in the presence of the court-appointed observers, was completed this evening.

“Since the stock markets are closed on weekends, the results of the ballot will be published on Monday,” the spokesperson said, refusing to comment further.