Mindtree scraps share buyback plan after L&T open offer

Indian IT services company Mindtree Ltd on Tuesday ditched a plan to buy back shares in a bid to counter conglomerate Larsen & Toubro Ltd’s (L&T) hostile takeover approach.

Mindtree would also form a committee of independent directors to evaluate L&T’s offer, it said in a statement.

This comes after L&T offered to buy 51.3 million Mindtree shares at 980 rupees each to add to the 20.32 percent stake it agreed to buy from coffee baron V.G. Siddhartha last week.

This is part of a hostile takeover bid which was shunned by Mindtree’s founders last week, who said it would not create value for the firm or its shareholders.