Satyam employees rejoice Tech Mahindra buy

While everyone was jockeying to buy Satyam, 48,000 employees were left guessing, but with Tech Mahindra emerging the winner, employees at Satyam are breathing a sigh of relief.
According to Sujit, a Satyam employee: "Finally the uncertainties are gone and the air is clear now. We are really happy."
Some employees say that they have even been getting messages from their Tech Mahindra counterparts. "We have been getting messages saying welcome aboard," said Vikram, another Satyam employee.
One cannot miss the visibly happy and relieved faces of Satyamites in Hyderabad. While Cognizant and L&T were favorites among Satyam employees but they hope that similar synergies and business projects with Tech Mahindra will ensure that there are no job losses.
The Satyam boards meanwhile is not sticking their neck out on protecting jobs. They have left it to the new owners to decide.
Employees say they stood by the company in its worse times and they only hope things get better going forward. The big question on their minds now is whether the new owners will retain the brand ‘Satyam’.

Sources: Ndtv

Bank keeps interest rates at 0.5%

The Bank of England has kept interest rates on hold at 0.5%, in a widely expected move following a number of rate cuts in recent months.
Rates remain at an all-time low after six cuts since October last year, when interest rates stood at 5%.
The Bank is also continuing with quantitative easing, or creating money to help boost lending. It has so far injected £26.4bn into the system.
The Bank and the government are trying to ease the economy out of recession.
New policies
As well as keeping rates on hold, the Bank's Monetary Policy Committee also voted to continue with "the programme, announced on 5 March, of asset purchases totalling £75bn financed by the issuance of central bank reserves".

With rates already so low, the Bank has been forced to look at other policies to boost the economy.
This is why it introduced quantitative easing - buying assets such as government and corporate bonds to increase the supply of money in the economy, in the hope that banks will eventually find it easier to lend to companies and individuals.
John Cridland, CBI deputy director general, said: "It is too early to judge quite how quickly this will begin to affect the broader economy.
"But the first tentative signs of the impact on gilt yields, corporate spreads and commercial paper issue have been encouraging."
Savers versus borrowers
That may soon begin to flow through to businesses and homeowners, according to Michael Coogan from the Council for Mortgage Lenders.

"There are a number of institutions who are going to make significant commitments to lend money to both to businesses and for home ownership," he told BBC News.
"But what we have also got is a market where there is a large number of lenders who are not as active, such as building societies and specialist lenders."
While low rates are good news for some mortgage holders, they are not so welcome for savers, who have seen the returns paid on their deposits slashed.
"Whilst savers will be pleased that rates have not been cut any further, this will do nothing to help those who have seen the income they earn on their savings diminish sharply in recent months," said Adrian Coles, director-general of the Building Societies Association.
He added: "Leaving Bank Rate on hold allows the impact on the wider economy of the recent rate cuts and the decision to start quantitative easing to be assessed. It will take some time before the effectiveness of these policies becomes more clear."
Producer prices ease
The latest interest rate decision came shortly after economic data showed exporters were benefiting from a weaker pound.
UK's goods trade gap with countries outside the European Union narrowed by more than expected to £3.964bn in February from £5.631bn the month before.
Exports were up 12.8% and imports were down 5.4%, as the weak pound made UK goods cheaper abroad.

Sources: BBC and Bank of England

Satyam Computer buyers wary about price tag

Bangalore: Fraud-hit Satyam Computer Services' search for a white knight could end on Monday, but bidders face an uphill task to put a price tag on the Indian company due to uncertainty about its finances and liabilities. The government-appointed board meets on Monday to receive bids from suitors.
On the same day, it could announce a buyer of a 51 per cent stake in the outsourcing company that had to scramble to raise funding to meet short-term needs this year.
Three months ago, Satyam's founder and chairman shocked investors by saying profits had been overstated for years, and putting in doubt the survival of the company once ranked as India's fourth largest outsourcing firm.
The government quickly stepped in and sacked the board as it sought to limit damage from India's biggest corporate scandal.
Satyam's board met in Mumbai on Thursday, in a move analysts said could be to finalise the procedures for Monday.
Chairman Kiran Karnik told Reuters the due diligence by suitors of Satyam was still going on. Indian engineering conglomerate Larsen & Toubro, which has a small software services unit, mid-sized outsourcer Tech Mahindra and US private equity firm WL Ross & Co are among the suitors.
Larsen & Toubro, which has built up a stake of about 12 per cent in Satyam, is seen by many analysts as a front-runner.
"For now, our advice could be skewed to a price lower than the current market price, but at the end of the day we want to win. So there can be some room left to go higher," said an investment banker, who did not want to be named as he was not authorised to speak to the media. Indian media have reported IT services provider Cognizant Technology Solutions has joined the race.
A spokesman for the US company declined to comment to Reuters on market speculation. New York-listed Satyam's market value has plunged to around $600 million from $7 billion in May.
The stock ended at Rs 47.15 (90 US cents) on Thursday, down more than 90 per cent from its last year's high of Rs 544.
Analysts said Satyam looks attractive due to its long list of marquee clients and due to the plunge in market value. However, they are unsure how to value the company due to uncertainty about its accounts and legal liabilities arising from the lawsuits filed in the United States by its shareholders.
Indian media has reported more than 40 clients of Satyam have left the company since the revelation of the $1 billion-plus fraud, but Satyam has declined comment.
No intensive bidding
Tarun Sisodia, head of research at Anand Rathi Financial Services in Mumbai, did not expect bids to top 60 rupees a share. "I don't think the bidding will be intensive. If anything, the market would be disappointed by the outcome of the bidding," he said. "Bidders will be extremely cautious in going overboard given the lack of information."
In October, Satyam had said it had around 53,000 employees and more than 600 clients including General Electric, Cisco Systems, and Qantas Airways.
Investment banking sources with knowledge of the proceedings said bids would be finalised only after due diligence was completed.
The inspection by bidders is being done through access to data containing "certain non-public information", and Satyam's management will provide an overview of operations and strategy.
Forrester said in a report last week while the sale would allay fears about Satyam's survival, clients would still face uncertainty about the acquired outsourcer's direction, service offerings and client relationship.
"Another uncertainty is the risk that the deal falls apart and Satyam goes back to square one," Sudin Apte, country head of the market research firm, wrote in the report.
On Tuesday, India's federal crime bureau filed charges against nine people including Satyam's founder, former chief financial offer, former managing director and two former external auditers.
All of them are being held in jail. Satyam has not reported earnings since reporting July-September in October as its accounts are being restated.

sources: ibn