CCI Approves L&T's 66% Stake Acquisition Proposal In Mindtree

On Friday, the Competition Commission of India (CCI) approved L&T's proposed acquisition of 66.15 percent stake in Mindtree.

On the social media platform Twitter, CCI said, "@CCI_India approves acquisition of up to 66.15% of the total equity shareholding of Mindtree Limited, on a fully diluted basis, by Larsen and Toubro Limited."

@CCI_India approves acquisition of up to 66.15% of the total equity shareholding of Mindtree Limited, on a fully diluted basis, by Larsen and Toubro Limited"

— CCI (@CCI_India) April 5, 2019

On 19 March, L&T signed a deal with Mindtree's largest stakeholder V G Siddhartha (founder-owner of the Cafe Coffee Day chain) to acquire 20.15 percent stake at the rate of Rs 980 a share. The engineering and construction major then made an open public offer on 26 March to buy 31 percent stake from Mindtree's shareholders and an additional 15 percent through on-market purchase.

The total value of the hostile bid to acquire a controlling stake of 66.15 percent in the Bengaluru-based IT company was nearly Rs 11,000 crore.

Mindtree promoters hold a total of 13.32 percent stake in the company and had condemned the hostile take over in the initial period. However, after the public offer made by L&T on 26 March, Mindtree's board on the same day decided to drop its buyback plan but will form a committee of independent directors to provide their reasonable recommendations on the offer to the shareholders, as per SEBI regulations.

The committee, headed by Apurva Purohit, has up to 10 May to make any recommendations to shareholders on the open offer while L&T can increase offer price or change offer size by 13 May. L&T's offer is scheduled to begin on 14 May and close on 27 May.