By Devidutta Tripathy
HYDERABAD, India (Reuters) - Fraud-scarred Satyam Computer Services on Tuesday named a management adviser and investment bankers to help revive its fortunes and said it would pay January salaries on time.
Shares in the company soared 21.36 percent to 47.15 rupees after engineer Larsen & Toubro said it might lift its stake in the outsourcing firm to 15 percent from 12 percent.
Satyam has been struggling for survival since Jan. 7 when founder Ramalinga Raju revealed profits had been overstated for years and $1 billion in cash on the books did not exist. He resigned as chairman and was arrested in India's largest corporate fraud.
The board of the outsourcer said it had appointed Goldman Sachs and Avendus, an Indian investment bank, to identify strategic investors and obtain expressions of interest.
"The board has received several proposals from corporate entities as well as from select PE (private equity) firms," T.N. Manoharan, who was appointed to the board by the government amd who chaired its meeting on Tuesday, said in a statement.
Some have shown an interest in buying Satyam as a whole while others have expressed interest in buying parts. But Manoharan said the latter was not an option.
While U.S.-based outsourcer iGate has said it would be interested in buying Satyam with PE help, Larsen & Toubro, which trebled its Satyam stake to 12 percent on Friday, said it would not be averse to raising it further.
"We don't rule out moving from 12 to 15 percent," L&T Chairman A.M. Naik told an analysts call, adding he would first wait for more clarity from the market regulator.
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