L&T Expressed Preparedness to Acquire Mindtree

Infrastructure major Larsen and Toubro  announced an open offer for 5.13 crore shares or 31 per cent stake of mid-tier IT company Mindtree at Rs 980 per share, according to a regulatory filing.

L&T will have to shell out Rs 5,029.8 crore for the planned open offer for the Bengaluru-based company.

"Larsen and Toubro makes a cash offer of Rs 980 per fully paid up equity share of the face value of Rs 10 each, to acquire up to 5,13,25,371 equity shares representing 31 per cent of the voting share capital...to the shareholders of Mindtree Ltd," said the letter of offer communicated to the BSE by Mindtree Ltd.

The open offer price is higher than Mindtree's closing price of Rs 970.45 at BSE on Friday.

The tendering for open offer will commence on June 17 and close on June 28.

In March, L&T had mounted a hostile takeover bid on Mindtree when it entered into a deal to buy Cafe Coffee Day owner V G Siddhartha's 20.32 per cent stake in Mindtree and also placed an order with brokers to pick up another 15 per cent of the company shares from the open market.

Subsequent to these deals, L&T is required to make an open offer to buy additional stake. In all, the infrastructure major is eyeing up to 66 per cent stake in Mindtree for around Rs 10,800 crore. As of June 6, its holding in Mindtree stood at 28.90 per cent.