Mumbai-based Satyam Computers Ltd. surprised the markets last week, announcing it was plagued by a $1 billion accounting scandal that now looks like it will forever change the face of the company. Three new members were appointed to the company's board on Sunday, the CEO stepped down, and one of those new to the board of directors, Deepak Parekh, told Bloomberg that the company may have to be broken up and sold in pieces.
Continue reading below
But nothing is set in stone. Parekh is still waiting for
the company's new executive team to be finalized before any deals can
be made. "It depends on how soon we get a CEO, it depends on how soon
we get a
good financial manager and it depends on how soon we get the accounts
restated," Parekh told Reuters Monday.
"The option of a merger is always open," Parekh said in response to a question. But who? The Deal's Matt Miller highlighted Friday that one of the country's other outsourcing firms may be a candidate to buy parts of Satyam. Part of that group would certainly have to include India's largest Information Technology exporter, Tata Consultancy Services.
Others such as the Economic Times say that the company could also be sold as a whole to a big foreign player such as IBM Corp., Capgemini or Accenture. Speculation had risen before the scandal in December that IBM and private equity investors -- TPG, Carlyle Group and Blackstone Group LP -- were already interested in Satyam either as a whole or in pieces, according to The Telegraph. The scandal has obviously made a sale a more urgent and prominent proposition. - Gerald Magpily
See The TelegraphSee The Economic Times
