Satyam Computer Services Ltd. (fka SAYCY)

[mcmorlod3]

Potential buyers approach Satyam
Tuesday January 20, 10:21 am ET
By Erika Kinetz, AP Business Writer
Potential buyers circle India's embattled outsourcing giant Satyam after fraud

MUMBAI, India (AP) -- Buyers have begun to circle beleagured outsourcing giant Satyam Computer Services Ltd., which has been fighting for its future since founder and former chairman B. Ramalinga Raju confessed to a $1 billion fraud on Jan. 7, media reports said.

Tarun Das, a member of Satyam's new government-appointed board of directors, told reporters Tuesday that the company has been approached by suitors from India and abroad.

"We have been approached by potential buyers," the Press Trust of India quoted him as saying.

"It is a very strong company," he said. "The board has not yet discussed the issue of looking for a buyer."

Aegis BPO Services Ltd., the back office unit of India's Essar Group, has expressed interest in carving out Satyam's back office arm, but has not made a formal offer, Aegis chief executive Aparup Sengupta said by phone Tuesday.

"We've expressed our interest in the form a letter to the board of Satyam," he said, adding that the letter was delivered last week.

"There is no offer we have put," he added. "We need to understand the company more. There has to be due diligence."

Raju said he had cooked Satyam's books for years, and the company's auditor, Price Waterhouse, the India unit of PricewaterhouseCoopers, has said that its audits are unreliable because they hinged on potentially false company data.

Aegis, which had revenues of $450 million last year, has completed 11 acquisitions in the last three years. Last year it acquired the India call center of Time Warner Inc.'s AOL and Los Angeles-based services company PeopleSupport Inc.

Aegis has nearly 30,000 employees and over 60 clients, including American Express, AT&T, and Vodafone.

Its parent company, the $50 billion Essar Group, has interests in telecom --through a joint venture with Vodafone--as well as steel, shipping, oil, power and construction.

Indian media reports have also fingered Larsen & Toubro Ltd., one of India's largest engineering conglomerates, as a potential suitor.

A Larsen & Toubro spokesman declined to confirm or deny those reports Tuesday.

Larsen & Toubro owns 4 percent of Satyam stock and has a software services and back office subsidiary called L&T Infotech, whose clients include Chevron, Hitachi, Sanyo, and Sunoco.

Satyam's board will hold its next meeting on Jan. 22 and 23.

http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/090120/as_india_satyam.html?.v=2