Maytas Infrastructure, the Hyderabad based infrastructure company promoted by the Raju family, may be looking for a buyer.
NDTV has learnt that the board of directors has expressed concerned on the state of affairs at Maytas Infrastructure and made the suggestion for the company to be sold in its report submitted to the Ministry of Corporate Affairs.
The communication from the board to the ministry also cites the example of the successful turnaround of Satyam after it was sold off to its new owner, Tech Mahindra.
Sources said that the government is open to the idea of selling off the company, "if it helps in the long run. NDTV contacted two senior officials of the company who confirmed the move. One of the officials, a member of the Maytas board, said, "The options are open". He did not elaborate further.
An official response from Maytas Infrastructure said that the company is not looking at a stake sale and was instead focusing on the corporate debt restructuring process being completed.
"I have no information on any letter from Maytas for selling of the company. But we get any such proposal, govt will have no problem whatsoever. Government has to keep the interest of the shareholders in mind. Government has not instructed any PSUs to blacklist Maytas but they have their own agendas and they can decide on their own" Corporate Affairs Minister Salman Khursheed told NDTV.
Maytas Infrastructure, a sister company of Satyam Computer, plunged into crisis after former Satyam Chairman Ramalinga Raju confessed that he had inflated the revenue and profit of the company. In January, its orderbook was nearly at Rs 23,000 crore, including the Hyderabad Metro project. Since then, the Andhra Pradesh government has cancelled the Rs 12,000 crore contract given to Maytas since it has faled to achieve financial closure.
The orderbook of the company has now fallen to Rs 7500 crore but there is no official confirmation of the projects that have been cancelled. The official statement from Maytas said that Rs.600 crore worth of orders have been executed since January.
The market capitalisation for Maytas has fallen from the peak of over Rs 3000 crore to around Rs 400 crore now. The Raju family own 35 per cent stake in Maytas at present.
Maytas is also expecting to commence work on the Gulbarga and Shimoga airports in Karnataka this month. These two will be the first privately owned greenfield airports to take off in the country. With increased government focus on roads, the Maytas board is trying to get more projects in that sector.
The government will have to file a petition before the Company Law Board (CLB) if the proposal to find a new buyer for Maytas has to move ahead. CLB will then have to decide on the matter and issue appropriate guideline on the process that will have to be followed to sell the company.