L&T becomes promoter of Mindtree, holds 60.06% stake

PTI, Jul 4, 2019, 9:36 AM IST

New Delhi: IT firm Mindtree Wednesday said Larsen & Toubro has acquired control of the company and has been categorised as a promoter, capping months of hostile takeover efforts.

Mindtree founders had initially resisted the hostile takeover bid and had also tried to rally support of large investors.

Now, L&T has 60.06 per cent stake in Bengaluru-based Mindtree.

“We wish to inform that Larsen & Toubro Limited has acquired equity shares to an extent 60.06 per cent of the total shareholding of the company and has acquired control and is categorised as promoter pursuant to Sebi… Regulations, 2018,” Mindtree said in a regulatory filing.

L&T held 9.87 crore equity shares in Mindtree as on July 2 following its recently-concluded open offer.

Nalanda India Fund and Nalanda India Equity Fund have also sold majority of their holdings in Mindtree in L&T’s open offer. Both entities, which held 10.60 per cent stake in Mindtree, have offloaded about 8.90 per cent stake, according to a separate regulatory filing.

On Tuesday, L&T said it has made payments to shareholders who tendered their shares successfully in the open offer, which closed on June 28.

In a deal that had marked India’s first-ever hostile takeover bid in the IT space, L&T had bought 20.32 per cent shares in Mindtree from V G Siddhartha and his coffee enterprise for over Rs 3,000 crore in March. Later, it shored up the holding with more share purchases from the open market before making an open offer for an additional 31 per cent stake in Mindtree.

Shares of Mindtree fell nearly 1 per cent to close at Rs 906.10 on the BSE.