The Mindtree promoters today issued a statement saying that they would unconditionally oppose the takeover attempt by Larsen & Toubro Ltd.
The statement was issued by its promoters, including Krishnakumar Natarajan (executive chairman), Subroto Bagchi (co-founder), Rostow Ravanan (CEO) and Parthasarathy N.S. (executive vice chairman and COO).
They said the hostile takeover attempt of Mindtree by Larsen & Toubro is a grave threat to the organization they have collectively built over 20 years.
The takeover by Larsen & Toubro is an unprecedented event in the industry. It could undo all of the progress Mindtree achieved, they said.
“We remain 100 percent committed to our long-term vision of building an independent company. We believe it’s in the best interests of our shareholders, Mindtree Minds, and our organization overall to continue opposing this takeover attempt. In addition, there has been a large outpouring of sentiment from Mindtree Minds online at #MindtreeMatters expressing their strong desire to retain our culture and our independence. In the meantime, while this situation unfolds, Mindtree will continue to be laser focused on continuing the stellar work for our clients and delivering great value to them,” they said.
The promoters added that they don’t see any strategic advantage in the transaction and the transaction will turn out to be destructive for all shareholders.
L&T has been aggressively trying to acquire Mindtree, a global tech services company. The takeover will enable L&T the scale it has been craving for long. A decade ago L&T had failed in its bid to acquire the scam-hit Satyam Computers.