Satyam to frame new criteria for bidders
By siliconindia   |   Monday, 16 February 2009, 22:30 IST   |    1 Comments
Printer Print Email Email
Kolkata: With Satyam acquisition being on the priority list of many firms, the company's new Chairman Kiran Karnik have decided to frame new criteria to for the buyer selection. "We want Satyam to remain a going concern and clearly don't want someone who is interested in asset-stripping and retaining only some lines of business and letting go the rest thereby putting, for example, 20,000 jobs at risk," said Karnik. The method for finding the new investor for the beleaguered Satyam will be finalized within 7-10 days, ensuring that money is not the only criteria for the buyout. "In any event, the selection will not just be based on who bids the highest because it's not an IPL auction for cricketers," Karnik told The Times of India. He expects the process of selection to get quicker as the criteria get finalized, though the paper work may take a while longer. Although Spice boss B K Modi has suggested an e-auction for Satyam the proposal did not find any takers, with the earlier board of Satyam snapping it, saying that Satyam is not a commodity to be sold on the Internet. The deal failed to interest even Larsen & Toubro (L&T), who is currently Satyam's biggest shareholder. Karnik pointed out that the presence of the LIC member on the Satyam board would not affect taking any decision on considering L&T's merits for running Satyam. Earlier some of the members on the board objected to L&T being a potential Satyam suitor as it could be tantamount to a related party transaction, since LIC is the biggest shareholder in L&T. Commenting on the customer's reaction, Karnik said, "Initially, their concern was whether the company would remain but now they want the process of getting someone to take charge of Satyam to happen quickly, which is also what we are working towards."

siliconindia