Sebi nod for L&T’s Mindtree open offer

Engineering giant Larsen and Toubro (L&T) is believed to have received the approval from the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) to go ahead with the open offer to acquire shares in IT firm Mindtree.

The open offer is likely to start after June 10. L&T currently holds a 28.87% stake in the IT firm which it acquired partly from Cafe Coffee Day founder VG Siddhartha as well as from the open market.

The open offer was supposed to commence on May 14 but the engineering major reportedly missed a deadline to issue a letter of offer to Mindtree shareholders.

Shares of Mindtree ended Friday’s trading session down 0.23%, at `977.70 on the Bombay Stock Exchange.

L&T is in the midst of acquiring a majority stake in Mindtree which the promoters of the latter are opposed to.

After having acquired a near-20% stake in Mindtree from Cafe Coffee Day founder VG Siddhartha in March, L&T mandated Axis Capital to buy as much as 15% shares of Mindtree from the open market. Over the last few weeks, the engineering major has been busy shoring up shares in the IT firm.

It is also believed that since the open offer is now back on cards after getting delayed from the earlier date of May 14, the independent directors committee (IDC) headed by Apurva Purohit might soon submit its recommendation in respect of the offer by L&T for the consideration of the shareholders. Based on the legal provisions, the independent directors’ committee needs to make its recommendations before the open offer opens, the management said.

Email queries sent to L&T, Mindtree and Apurva Purohit remained unanswered till the time of going to press.

Securities and Exchange Board of India ( SEBI )

Larsen & Toubro Limited