L&T acquires 73,953 Mindtree shares, shareholding in IT services firm goes up to 26.53%

New Delhi: Infrastructure major Larsen and Toubro (L&T) on Monday acquired 73,953 shares of Mindtree from the open market, taking its shareholding in the IT services firm to 26.53 percent, according to a regulatory filing. “Larsen and Toubro Ltd has acquired 73,953 equity shares (with a face value of Rs 10 each) of Mindtree Ltd on 20 May, 2019,” a Mindtree filing said. After the latest transaction, L&T’s shareholding in Mindtree stands at 26.53 percent. The latest stock purchase was made at Rs 979.99 apiece. Earlier this month, L&T purchased around 20 percent stake of V G Siddhartha and Cafe Coffee Day in Mindtree through a block deal for about Rs 3,210 crore, and has since topped that up with share purchases from open market. [caption id=“attachment_4419343” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Representational image. Photo courtesy: company website[/caption] On Friday, L&T had acquired 13,440 shares of Mindtree from the open market. In all, the infrastructure major is eyeing up to 66 percent stake in Mindtree for around Rs 10,800 crore—marking the country’s first-ever hostile takeover bid in the information technology industry. L&T had proposed to buy additional stake in Mindtree through an open offer that was slated to begin on 14 May and close on 27 May. However, the open offer has been postponed as the engineering major is yet to get nod from the Securities and Exchange Board of India. In a recent interview to PTI, L&T Group Chairman A M Naik had said the acquisition of Mindtree is the topmost agenda for the company at the moment. “…right now, our mind is completely occupied on Mindtree and I hope we will be able to eventually make this into a big company as well…We have got around 26 percent stake in Mindtree and now we will wait till we get 51 percent. The open offer will be launched in about 10-12 days time,” he had said. Shares of Mindtree ended at Rs 980.05 apiece on the BSE on Monday, 0.18 percent higher than the previous closing.