Meeting agenda to go beyond buyback.
Satyam Computers' independent directors are mounting pressure on founder B Ramalinga Raju to reveal details of the controversial board meeting that proposed the acquisition of two promoter-related companies, after a director resigned yesterday owning moral responsibility.Directors want Satyam's founders to make public the minutes of the meeting at which around Rs 5,500 crore of the company's cash was proposed to be paid to acquire Maytas Infra and Maytas Properties.
An independent director on Satyam Computer's board is understood to have resigned days ahead of a scheduled meeting next week.
The Bombay high court on Tuesday put a stay on the on the production warrant against B Ramalinga Raju, former chairman of Satyam Computer and asked a local court to speed up the hearing on his application for transfer of a cheating case to Hyderabad.
B Ramalinga Raju, the disgraced founder of the erstwhile Satyam Computer Services, and his family members wrongfully gained Rs 2,743 crore (Rs 27.43 billion), the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) said.
Upaid claimed it had served requests for production of documents related to the 'now scuttled Maytas transfers on Satyam' on Friday, but now had to submit this motion to the court 'because Satyam had repeatedly resisted its efforts to depose Raju and Vadlamani in the case.' The current motion is in reply to a disparagement case that Satyam had filed against Upaid wherein the former had claimed that the payment services firm has been disparaging them in the public domain.
The crux of the problem it appears is one of "trust" and the perception that a unilateral decision was taken by the board, allegedly to favour Raju's sons' companies.
Terming the nearly Rs 10,000 crore (Rs 100 billion) scam in Satyam Computers as an aberration, the government on Thursday said the proposed new Companies Bill provides more stringent provisions to avoid such frauds in the future.
'The company (Mahindra Satyam) is authorised to issue and allot 19,86,58,498 (approximately 198.66 million) equity shares of Rs 2 each at the premium of Rs 2.50 to Venturebay,' said CLB Chairman S Balasubramanian, allowing Mahindra Satyam's application requesting permission to issue equity. Mahindra Satyam (earlier Satyam Computer) had moved the CLB after Venturebay failed to subscribe to 20 per cent of Satyam's shares from the open market.
The mood appears to have changed dramatically. Despite the new chief executive officer of Mahindra Satyam assuring them the company and its employees (known as associates) have a great future, most associates this paper spoke to are confused and worried about the goings-on at the workplace.
Gurnani succeeds A S Murthy who was appointed by the government board after the multi-crore rupee scam broke out in then Satyam Computer Services. Gurnani has been heading the global operations of Tech Mahindra.
These facilities will accommodate 3,500 employees, who will be moved to the two company-owned campuses.
All the three tax-free enclaves were given formal approval, which would have lapsed by end of this month. While the ministry granted extension of time 'on file', the decision has to be ratified by the inter-ministerial Board of Approval which is meeting here on June 17.
Effective this month, the 'Virtual Pool' programme is applicable on those Satyam employees based in India. It allows them to take time off from work on a reduced pay structure (for up to six months) while they continue to retain their employment. The company expects approximately 7,000 to 10,000 associates will be a part of the programme.
There will be no retrenchment in Satyam, up to 10,000 employees to be put into virtual pool, Tech Mahindra CEO Vineet Nayyar said.
Meanwhile, the company lost 66 clients, worth $183 million (around Rs 900 crore) in the same period -- either because contracts were terminated, or they expired, or were withdrawn. About 23 customers terminated contracts accounting for $70 million as on March 26, 2009.
More trouble is brewing for Maytas Properties Ltd, the unlisted company promoted by the family of Satyam Computer Services Ltd founder B Ramalinga Raju.
A source close to the development pointed out that, with the newly-appointed Minister of Corporate Affairs Salman Khurshid publicly stating that Tech Mahindra would have to deal with the excess employee issue with 'sensitivity', this is one point that will surely be discussed.
Tech Mahindra's acquisition of Satyam Computer Services, according to an internal survey, has helped in restoring the confidence of the latter's clients, many of whom were thinking of terminating their ties with the fraud-hit IT firm.
However, the regulatory body has asked Tech Mahindra to share with the company's stakeholders the information Satyam had provided to the bidders.
Sudip Banerjee, CEO, L&T Infotech talks about business post-Satyam, expansion plans and bigger acquisition targets.
It's one Forbes list where none would want to figure, but Ramalinga Raju, founder-chairman Satyam Computers (now Mahindra Satyam), has managed the feat of being among the world's 10 most outrageous CEOs.
Raju, the only Indian on the list dominated by Americans, owes his place on the list to his disclosure in January about committing the country's biggest ever corporate fraud.
Paving the way for takeover of crisis-ridden Satyam by Tech Mahindra, the Company Law Board allowed the new owners to appoint Vineet Nayyar, C P Gurnani, Sanjay Kalra and Ulhas N Yargon on the board.
The meetings with Singh and Ahluwalia have taken place just two days before the announcement of the results of the general elections for the 15th Lok Sabha. Besides Karnik, the other nominees on the Satyam board are HDFC chairman Deepak Parekh, former ICAI chairman T M Manoharan, CII chief mentor Tarun Das, LIC executive S B Mainak and former presiding officer of Securities and Appellate Tribunal C Achuthan.
The remand of Satyam founder B Ramalinga Raju and seven others was extended by 14 days by a local court in Hyderabad on Wednesday.
The Central Bureau of Investigation, investigating the financial scam at Satyam Computer Services, is finding it difficult to crack the content of the two laptops that belong to the company's founder, B Ramalinga Raju. It is now sourcing special accessories to unearth the data stored in them.
Disgraced Satyam founder B Ramalinga Raju, his brother Rama Raju, and IT firm's former CFO Vadlamani Srinivas moved their bail applications in the IV Additional Metropolitan Sessions judge in the Nampally criminal court complex. Their bail pleas were rejected by the designated court for CBI (XIV Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate).
Satyam founder B Ramalinga Raju's confession letter on January 7 also refers to a net amount of Rs 1,230 crore (Rs 12.3 billion) arranged for Satyam by the 37 companies.
TM has an agreement with the Union of European Football Associations, while Satyam has signed up with Fifa. A Satyam spokesperson said: "Tech Mahindra has been providing mobile streaming services to Uefa, besides other telecom services. The company will support us by offering its technology expertise in football. We will go together for the two World Cups." TM and Satyam's alliance on sports may not end with the World Cup and may expand to other disciplines as well.
Maytas Infrastructure Ltd, the listed company floated by the promoters of Satyam Computer Services, plans to raise Rs 800 crore to Rs 1,000 crore through asset sales plus loan and guarantees from banks to complete various projects, including the prestigious Hyderabad Metro, and to bid for some new projects that are coming up for auction.
He went on to explain that it is standard practice for developers to have development agreements under which the land-owner cannot sell his land to any other entity or individual.
Giving relief to the scam-hit Satyam Computer, the Company Law Board (CLB) on Thursday extended time limit for the IT company to declare quarterly financial results and file statutory documents up to December 31, 2009.
The agreement with the new owners of Satyam Computer Services will incorporate restrictions to prevent mass retrenchment of employees, according to a top functionary of the Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA).
For Tech Mahindra, the successful bidder for Satyam Computer Services, it was "a game-changing day," according to Anand Mahindra, vice-chairman & MD of Mahindra & Mahindra.
Analysts are optimistic on absorption of new clients, growth possibilities under Tech Mahindra. For Tech Mahindra, the biggest positive is that the two companies have synergies in service offerings and client portfolio, says Sabyasachi Satpathy, director and co-founder, Mindplex Consulting. Satyam will give Tech Mahindra capabilities in enterprise resource planning, systems integration, as well as vertical expertise in the embedded, manufacturing and insurance space.
Early on Monday morning, the chairman of the government-appointed board of Satyam Computer Services, Kiran Karnik, hurried into the Taj President Hotel in south Mumbai to begin one of India's strangest corporate sell-offs.
Months before Satyam Computer Services founder B Ramalinga Raju made disclosures about committing fraud, authorities in the US had initiated an investigation into the company's dealings with Syria, Sudan, Cuba and Iran, identified by the US government as state sponsors of terrorism, and subject to US economic sanctions and export controls.
With only two days left for the final bidding process to start (9 am on April 13), the government-appointed board of Satyam Computer Services is giving final touches to the modalities. And providing the extra information the potential bidders wanted.
RIL, SBI and ONGC are among the top 200 companies ranked 121st, 150th and 152nd, respectively by US magazine Forbes. New entrants include Hero Honda Motors, Sun Pharma, Indian Bank and Jindal Steel and Power Ltd. However, five Indian companies -- scam-hit IT firm Satyam Computer, realty firm Unitech, Suzlon Energy and two Anil Ambani group firms Reliance Power and Reliance Capital -- have been dropped.
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