The government-appointed board of the troubled Satyam Computer Services will meet tomorrow to scrutinise the bids for a strategic 51 per cent stake in the company and draw up a time frame for the completion of the selection process.
"Though the board has not put out a clear agenda as such for the one-day meeting, the focus will be on the detailed expressions of interest (EoI) submitted by the eligible bidders, which will be accepted till 5 pm tomorrow," a Satyam spokesperson said.
Satyam commenced the competitive bidding process on March 9, under which interested parties have to submit bids by March 20 with proof of availability of funds of at least Rs 1,500 crore. The board, which had appointed former chief justice of India S P Bharucha to oversee and guide it throughout the entire selection process, said on March 13 that “It has received adequate interest from both Indian and international bidders, including private equity firms.”
Based on the submitted EoIs, eligible bidders will be shortlisted and given access to certain business, financial and legal diligence material relating to Satyam, provided they have executed a non-disclosure and non-solicitation agreement, a stand-still agreement and a 'no-claims' undertaking.
At least eight serious suitors have already entered the bidding fray which include Larsen & Toubro (Satyam has a lot of synerfy with L&T Infotech), the engineering major which currently holds a 12 per cent stake in the scam-hit company; Tech Mahindra; the BK Modi-promoted Spice Group; and iGate Corporation. International bidders reportedly include IT giant IBM though the company has not confirmed this as yet.
Meanwhile, the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICA) on March 18 filed a petition with the fifth additional chief metropolitan magistrate seeking permission to record the statements of Satyam's former chief financial officer Srinivas Vadlamani and Price Waterhouse auditors S Gopalakrishnan and Srinivas Talluri. The court will hear the arguments on this petition on March 23. The Serious Fraud Investigation Office too has sought a six-day custody of all the accused. This would come up for hearing on the same day.
In a related development, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), which had Satyam founder B Ramalinga Raju and his aides in its custody for a week from March 10, sought another two days for questioning them by its multi-disciplinary team. The local court will pronounce its order on the CBI petition, and bail pleas of Raju brothers, Vadlamani and the PW auditors tomorrow (March 20).