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The government moved swiftly and nominated three directors for the new board of Satyam Computer Services. Satyam’s three new directors are HDFC chairman, Deepak Parekh, a veteran businessman and troubleshooter; Kiran Karnik, Nasscom’s past chairman and CS Achuthan, the former presiding officer of the Securities Appellate Tribunal. These are good choices to inspire confidence.
The government acted in time to stop tomorrow’s board meeting of Satyam Computer Services. Otherwise, a 3-member board would have met tomorrow, to consider the resignations of its chairman and managing director and discuss options before the company. This is the same board, down from its original strength of nine, which has presided over the worst corporate scam in the new millennium in India. Any decision of this board would have been viewed with suspicion.
Corrected: The Assets’ side total is Rs 2889 crore and not Rs 2936 crore as was earlier stated, in the last paragraph.
Continue ReadingSun said, in a SEC filing, it has extended the tender offer closing date from Jan 9 to Jan 30. It also said that it has informed the Supreme Court that its negotiations to reach a settlement have been unsuccessful. It is now awaiting the court’s decision in the matter. The dispute concerns the price at which Sun will acquire Taro’s shares from promoters and minority shareholders. Initially, Sun had offered $7.75 a share, which it then hiked to $9.50 a share, but Taro responded first with an offer to conduct a shareholder referendum to decide the price.
Continue ReadingCan Satyam continue to function under a tainted board? Satyam’s board was already a thinly manned one, with just five members. Two are the promoters B Ramalinga Raju and his brother B Rama Raju who have given their resignations. Ram Mynampati is the senior executive on the board. He has been with Satyam since 1999. The company website says he is the president, commercial and healthcare, since October 2002. It is very difficult to imagine him as the interim CEO, as Raju’s letter proposes, in a situation where trust in its board has evaporated.
Continue ReadingSun Pharmaceuticals has sent a letter to the stock exchange, rejecting the offer put forth by Taro proposing $15 a share in the tender offer. In a letter, in what has now become routine, Sun Pharmaceuticals rejects the referendum proposal. It also addresses Taro’s latest offer of taking the merger price up to $15 a share.
Satyam Computer Services is staring at a big hole in its books, due to falsification of accounts over a number of years, by its promoters. Even as the seriousness and extent of the problem will emerge over the next few weeks, the company could even be staring at bankruptcy, unless a quick bailout is arranged.
The reason for the possible dilution of Satyam Computer Services has become clear now. Satyam’s promoter has said that the entire stake held by SRSR Holding Pvt Ltd (a promoter group holding company) has been pledged to institutional lenders. Since the share price has been declining, these lenders have been selling shares to cover the margin shortfall.
In yet another move to retain focus on its core business of consumer products, Hindustan Unilever announced a move to license the Lakme and Ayush brands to a subsidiary Lakme Lever Private Limited. The press release does not say it explicitly but clearly HUL seems to think that therapy centres and beauty salons are not its forte.
Taro Pharmaceutical Industries has rejected Sun Pharmaceutical’s revised offer price (disclosed yesterday by Sun Pharma) as too low. It has said that Sun Pharma rejected its offer of a face to face meeting, made on December 30, and instead chose to go public with the offers, which were to be confidential. Apparently, Sun Pharma refused to meet unless Taro made a counter offer first.