Tech Mahindra hopeful of merger with Mahindra Satyam soon

Tech Mahindra today expressed the hope that the proposed merger of Mahindra Satyam with itself will be completed shortly.

"The Andhra Pradesh High Court today adjourned the hearing on the petitions challenging the merger of Mahindra Satyam with Tech Mahindra by three weeks. However, we do not see any challenges for the merger," Tech Mahindra executive vice-chairman, Vineet Nayyar, told PTI at a post-earnings meeting here.

He said the company has made very good progress on the merger, and both the companies have already begun to work together on several fronts. "The case is at the penultimate stage of approval, which should happen over the next two-three weeks," Mr Nayyar said.

Tech Mahindra took over reins of the scam-tainted Satyam Computers in April 2009 and rebranded it as Mahindra Satyam.

Last year, the company announced the merger of two companies and have secured the mandate of both the boards and shareholders, barring the minority ones, who have challenged the swap-ratio in the Andhra HC.

Tech Mahindra managing director, C P Gurnani, said the issue had been settled by the boards of both the companies as well as their AGMs. Still the company is fighting some 40-odd cases, of which 37 are filed by Ramlinga family members, seeking release of some Rs 1,230.4 crore.

Mahindra Satyam has also got legal notices from the 37 entities owned by founder Raju's relatives, who say they want their Rs 1,230.4 crore with interest and have also threatened to file a winding-up petition against Mahindra Satyam if their demand is not met.

Then there is a case from IL&FS Financial Services, which owns less than 1 per cent in Mahindra Satyam, demanding that Rs 1,230.4 crore be recorded as unsecured loans, and the 37 companies owned by Raju's relatives be recognised as Mahindra Satyam's creditors.