Ashok Soota, the outgoing executive chairman of IT services firm MindTree, today said he had no immediate plans to divest his stake in the company. In a joint statement issued by him and MindTree, Soota said he would divest his stake in due course to fund his future business plans.
“I have no immediate plans for divestment of my stake in MindTree. I will, in due course of time, divest my stake in a manner which will not jeopardise MindTree. The proceeds of the divestment will be used towards funding my new NGO and the new business venture which I will soon announce,” Soota said.
As of December 31, 2010, Soota held 11.14 per cent in MindTree, which is the single-largest stake-holding among the promoters’ group.
Soota who co-founded MindTree (it was known as MindTree Consulting then) in August 1999 with nine others, had announced his decision to resign from the company in January this year, citing personal reasons. According to Krishnakumar Natarajan, CEO & MD of MindTree, Soota’s resignation has given rise to a lot of speculation about his stake sale and future plans which is why the company wanted to clarify these with a joint statement.
