Headquartered in Bengaluru, Mindtree has crafted the headlines after one of its investors, VG Siddhartha, the owner of coffee chain Café Coffee Day (CCD) struck a deal to sell his 20.32% stake in the company to giant organization Larsen & Tourbo (L&T).
The co-founder called a press conference to express their displeasure, with Natrajan calling it “corporate India’s #MeToo moment.” The press conference blown some sentimental questions to L&T, including, “If you persist in what you are doing, you will be forever remembered for this. Is this how you want to set an example?” and “what message are you giving to all startups in the country?”
“Part of managing a business as large as this is agility in dealmaking…the management have shown poorer acumen than one expects from professionals of their calibre,” Vivek Durai, founder of business intelligence platform Paper.VC, said in an email last week. “They have also shown an amazing lack of ownership and foresight repeating exactly the same mistake as (Infosys founder) NR Narayana Murthy by passing the baton forward from one founder to another. A silly tradition that should never have started in a company that promotes meritocracy.”
According to the reports, Mindtree and L&T may not be seen face to face for the discussion. “The complaint is from a passion perspective,” said Yugal Joshi, vice-president of Texas-based consulting firm Everest Group. However, Mindtree has scrolled a dice in investing in newer areas such as cloud services, design thinking, and agile; and it has made critical acquisitions, including buying out both UK-based Bluefin and US-headquartered Relational Solutions.
“Initial reaction of (investors) seems negative based on the dip in share price but we have to wait and see as the board responds and post completion of the open offer,” said Harish HV, an independent analyst. On Friday, Mindtree’s stock rejected 1.5% intraday after it deferred its share buyback proposal. The promoters has set a discussion on Tuesday.
Mindtree’s stock declined 1.5% intraday on Friday after it deferred its share buyback proposal. The promoters are slated to meet on Tuesday (March 26) to discuss it.