L&T acquires 97,815 shares of IT firm Mindtree, raises stake to 28.97 pc

Infrastructure major Larsen and Toubro (L&T) on Wednesday acquired about 98,000 shares of Mindtree from open market, taking its shareholding in the IT services firm to 28.87 per cent, according to a regulatory filing.

"Larsen and Toubro Ltd has acquired 97,815 equity shares (with a face value of Rs 10 each) of Mindtree Ltd on May 29, 2019," a BSE filing by Mindtree said.

After the latest transaction, L&T's shareholding in Mindtree stands at 28.87 per cent. The latest stock purchase was made at Rs 980 apiece.

Earlier this month, L&T purchased around 20 per cent stake of V G Siddhartha and Cafe Coffee Day in Mindtree through a block deal for about Rs 3,210 crore, and has since topped that up with share purchases from open market.

On Monday, L&T had acquired 2.3 lakh shares of Mindtree, followed by another 3.56 lakh shares on Tuesday from the open market. In the week of May 20-24, L&T had purchased shares worth over Rs 316 crore.

In all, the infrastructure major is eyeing up to 66 per cent stake in Mindtree for around Rs 10,800 crore, marking the country's first-ever hostile takeover bid in the information technology industry.

L&T had proposed to buy additional stake in Mindtree through an open offer that was slated to begin on May 14 and close on May 27. However, the open offer has been postponed as the engineering major is yet to get nod from the Securities and Exchange Board of India.

Shares of Mindtree ended almost flat at Rs 980.20 apiece on the BSE on Wednesday.