LTI, Siddhartha may seal mindtree deal in 4 days

BENGALURU: L&T Infotech (LTI) is likely to sign a deal with Café Coffee Day founder VG Siddhartha and his associates in the next four days to buy their 21% stake in Mindtree, people briefed on the matter said.
LTI and Baring Private Equity Asia are in talks to acquire the stake, but the former is ahead in the race, the people said. Siddhartha, along with his associates, is the largest shareholder of the IT services company. He couldn’t be reached for a comment. Promoters, led by Krishnakumar Natarajan, Subroto Bagchi, NS Parthasarathy and Rostow Ravanan together hold about 13% of Mindtree. The founders’ bloc has been pursuing a deal with Baring PE, to see that shares change hands to a friendly investor so that they continue to hold the reins.

The IT unit of Larsen & Toubro is expected to raise its stake in Mindtree upon purchase of Siddhartha’s shares to gain control over the company, the people said. If the stake reaches 25%, it will have to compulsorily make an open offer for another 26% under local regulations.

A combined entity of Mindtree and LTI may make up a quarter of Infosys in terms of revenue, industry observers said. Siddhartha was one of the first venture capitalists in Mindtree. He bought an initial 6.6% stake for ?41a share in 1999.