CLB permits Satyam to start sale process, raise equity capital

CLB permits Satyam to start sale process, raise equity capital

New Delhi, Feb 19 (PTI) Paving the way for bringing in a new owner at Satyam Computer, the Company Law Board today allowed the distressed IT firm to conduct a public auction for inducting a strategic investors and to raise its equity base.

After hearing a petition filed by Satyam yesterday, CLB ordered that the company could conduct an open transparent auction process for inducting a strategic investor.

CLB also authorised the company's government-appointed board for making allotment of preferential shares and raise its equity capital from Rs 160 crore to Rs 280 crore. The authorised equity capital of the company, whose shares have a face value of Rs 2 each, would increase to 140 crore from 80 crore, an increase of 75 (RPT 75) per cent.

Seeking to expedite the process of its sale, Satyam yesterday sought CLB's permission to conduct a public auction for induction of a strategic investor and get the funds needed to ensure its uninterrupted operations.

The company also warned that many of its key clients and staff have threatened to quit due to the firm's financial troubles and therefore, it urgently needed fresh capital.

Those having evinced interest in acquiring Satyam include engineering major L&T, B K Modi group and Hindujas. PTI

L&T to take decision on bidding after studying CLB order: Naik

Mumbai, Feb 20 (PTI) Larsen and Toubro today said it would soon take a decision on bidding for Satyam Computer Services after studying the CLB order.
"(The) CLB order has come only at night, we are studying it. We hope to complete it (the study) by tonight and we will take a decision over the days," Larsen and Toubro Chairman A M Naik said.

Yesterday, the Company Law Board allowed the distressed IT firm to conduct a public auction for inducting a strategic investor and to raise its equity base, after hearing a petition filed by Satyam.

CLB also authorised the company's government-appointed board for making allotment of preferential shares and raise its equity capital by 50 per cent from Rs 160 crore to Rs 240 crore. PTI

Scientists to clone Pashmina goat

Jammu, Feb 20 (PTI) A team of scientists from Jammu and Kashmir and Haryana are working on a project to clone the famous pashmina goat, the success of which is expected to give boost to the dwindling trade in the sought-after fur.

Under a World Bank aided project, the scientists from Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology and National Dairy Research Institute will use somatic cells from the ear of a goat to produce the clone.

"The work on cloning of pashmina goat has begun under an ambitious World Bank aided project - National Agriculture Innovation Project - in joint partnership between National Dairy Research Institute (NDRI) and Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology (SKUAST)," Assistant Director Research, Animal Sciences, SKUAST, Dr Farooq Ahmed told PTI.

Sanctioned by the Indian Council of Agriculture Research, the project comprises four components and has been granted Rs 9 crore aid by the World Bank. Out of this, SKUAST will get Rs 1.80 crore and rest will be given to NDRI, Dr Ahmed said.

The project 'Value Chain on Zone Free Cloned Embryos Production and Development of Elite Germ Plasma Pashmina' hopes to change the pashmina production scenario in the state.

Dr Ahmed said a six-member team will use somatic cells of the goat to clone the cell to produce new pashmina goat using a hand-guided cloning technique and the four-phased project would run for next three years.PTI