Spice ready with Rs 2,700 cr to acquire Satyam

[Kalyan]

Spice ready with Rs 2,700 cr to acquire Satyam

The Spice Group, which has presence in mobile phones, entertainment and real estate, has said on Saturday that it has around Rs 2,700
crore ready to acquire a controlling stake in the scam-hit Satyam Computer Services.

"We are a serious bidder and have enough cash for acquiring Satyam. We have decided to rope in Enam Securities as the investment banker for the deal," Spice Group chairman B K Modi told ET after a board meeting on Saturday evening.

The company has cash from the recent sale of a group company Spice Telecom to Idea Cellular Ltd.

"We would go about the trisection in a transparent manner. We would not buy shares from the market. We have already placed a bid before Satyam's board. We prefer a preferential allotment", said Mr Modi. In case of a preferential allotment, the money would go to Satyam which could be utilised for its revival. In a share purchase from the market by the acquirer, the money goes to the shareholder who sells his stake.


The Spice Group will also present a model of e-auction to the ministry of corporate affairs which would ensure transparency in the whole transaction, a company official, who asked not to be named, told ET.

Engineering giant L&T and Tech Mahindra, the software arm of the M&M group, have already shown interest in taking management control of Satyam.

source : economic times