Best of Mindtree yet to come: Chairman

Team Udayavani, Jun 21, 2019, 4:28 PM IST

New Delhi: Mindtree – where Larsen & Toubro is in the midst of acquiring majority stake has exuded confidence that it will deliver a low-teen growth rate in FY20, and promised that the “best of Mindtree is yet to come”.

The Bengaluru-based company described construction major L&T’s unsolicited bid to acquire a majority holding in the IT firm as “unusual situation” and said it is fully committed to “handling this issue in a manner that maximises value for all our stakeholders”.

The two top officials said the company is focussed on capitalising on the opportunities and maintaining high-growth trajectory, growing faster than the industry.

In March, L&T had said it will buy 20.32 per cent stake in Mindtree from V G Siddhartha and his coffee enterprise for over Rs 3,000 crore – marking India’s first-ever hostile takeover bid in the IT space.

Since then, L&T has steadily increased its holding in the Bengaluru-based tech firm to about 30 per cent. It is currently in the process of an open offer to buy an additional 31 per cent stake. In all, the infrastructure major is eyeing about 66 per cent stake in Mindtree for over Rs 10,700 crore.

The open offer – with an offer price of Rs 980 per share – opened on June 17 and is slated to close on June 28. If the offer is subscribed fully, the engineering behemoth will end up with a 66.32 per cent holding in Mindtree. L&T has secured three board positions at the IT services firm, giving the former a firm control over the company.

In the latest annual report, Natarajan and Ravanan stressed on the importance of rigorous governance standards as an essential ingredient to deliver sustainable financial performance.