L&T not to sell Satyam pie

Engineering major L&T on Monday said it will not dilute stake in IT major Satyam, where it lost the race to Tech Mahindra for 31 per cent strategic holding, and exuded confidence that the new owner of the Hyderabad-based giant would add value for shareholders.

"We are not disappointed with the outcome," a top official of the engineering giant told PTI when asked for comments on the company losing out to Tech Mahindra for acquiring Satyam.

"We expect that the new owner (the successful bidder Tech Mahindra) will increase the value of the enterprise and consequently an increase in the value of our holdings," D Morada, L&T General Manager, told PTI.

Asked about the 12 per cent holding in Satyam, he said "We are not permitted to buy or sell Satyam equity for a period of six months. This condition applies to all bidders."

The official said that the company would not have gone overboard on the bidding for Satyam where Tech Mahindra emerged successful with an offer of Rs 58 a share, saying, "We bid what we thought was the fair value for the enterprise."

L&T, which accumulated its holding to 12 per cent ahead of race, had offered Rs 45.90 a share.

It was expected that the value of enterprise, as seen by the bidders, would vary considerably in view of the assessment that had to be made on the basis on incomplete information.