Satyam receives bids, board extends meeting by a day

Bangalore, March 20 (IANS) The government-appointed directors of scam-hit Satyam Computer Services Friday extended their meeting to Saturday amid reports that they have received bids from three companies to buy the country's fourth largest software exporter.

'The board is meeting tomorrow (Saturday) also. There is no statement today (Friday),' a Satyam spokesperson told IANS.

The spokesperson declined to give details of the topics discussed at Friday's meeting.

The six-member board had set Friday 5 p.m. deadline for firms to submit their expression of interest to buy the software major by providing, among other details, proof of having Rs.15 billion (Rs.1500 crore) in cash.

Engineering and construction major Larsen and Toubro, Mahindra and Mahindra's IT arm Tech Mahindra and B.K. Modi-promoted Spice group are reported to have submitted the required information to the board by the deadline.

The board will examine the bids at its meeting Saturday.

The central government appointed the new board in January after Satyam founder B. Ramalinga Raju confessed to a Rs.78-billion accounting fraud.

He, his brother B. Rama Raju, who was the managing director, and chief financial officer Vadlamani Sreenivas are now in jail.

The new board members are former Nasscom president Kiran Karnik, Housing Development Finance Corp chairman Deepak Parekh, former Security and Exchange Board of India member C. Achuthan, mentor of Confederation of Indian Industries Tarun Das, former president of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India T. N. Manoharan, and chartered accountant S. Balakrishna Mainak.

Karnik is the board chairman.