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Goldman, Avendus, BCG to steer Satyam
The Govt-appointed board named Goldman Sachs and Avendus as investment bankers to advise the company on strategic opions, and buttressed it by appointing Boston Consulting Group as management advisors to aid the company’s leadership team.
Beleaguered Satyam Computer Services on Tuesday set in motion a process of overhaul involving a restructuring or sweeping changes in the fraud-hit firm by naming a troika of management change agents while assuring anxious workers that their salaries for the current month were on track.
The government-appointed board which met in Hyderabad named Goldman Sachs and Avendus as investment bankers to advise the company on strategic opions, and buttressed it by appointing Boston Consulting Group (BCG) as management advisors to aid the company’s leadership team.
The board said it has received several proposals from corporate entities and private equity firms, but ruled out selling the company by unbundling it into different parts.
The board stayed neutral on possible acquisition by engineering giant Larsen and Tubro (L&T), which has emerged as the largest shareholder with a 12 per cent stake in the company.
A dedicated three member senior team of BCG is expected to work closely during revival process. “They will not be charging Satyam any fees for their services and this reflects on their commitment to the task on hand,” board member Deepak Parekh said.
The board said it had concluded most of the discussions relating to the financing requirements of the company. “These funds will help tide over the immediate, compelling operational expenses,” a statement said
It said the salaries for this month will be paid as scheduled and this will be achieved through internal accruals and receivables. “Further validations have been done relating to the employee numbers and there are sufficient data points to reinforce the understanding that the earlier reported numbers hold good,” it said.
Questions have been raised by some that former chairman B.Ramalinga Raju may have inflated the employee numbers to 53,000.
Goldman Sachs and Avendus have been mandated to identify strategic investors, obtain expressions of interest and “ensure a fair, transparent approach to the entire process.”
