L&T plays safe with fresh purchase of Mindtree shares

Larsen & Toubro, which is locked in a takeover battle for Mindtree, has held off buying the 5 per cent that it requires to trigger the open offer for the IT services firm till all approvals are secured from regulators in India and overseas. Lawyers, investment bankers and other market observers say that this could be because L&T may want to avoid being saddled with MindtreeNSE 0.27 % shares in the unlikely event of the approvals not coming through.

Founders of Mindtree have publicly attacked L&T’s acquisition proposal despite the latter claiming that it would let the Bengaluru-based firm run independently. L&T needs to own around 5 per cent more stake in Mindtree to reach the 25 per cent threshold that will trigger an open offer. It has placed an order with its stock broker Axis Capital to buy shares worth 15 per cent from the market on the condition that these transactions will be done only after necessary approvals from regulators.