Seven suitors line up for Satyam Computers

New Delhi, Jan 29: Scam-hit Satyam Computer has been approached by as many as seven possible suitors, including private equity players, even as the company's investment bankers are trying to find the best match.
"So far we are aware of four (companies that have approached Satyam Computer). But we have heard that another two or three firms are also interested," Satyam Computer board member Tarun Das, who is also the chief mentor of industry body CII told reporters here.

Investment bankers are talking to everybody and finding out which firm is interested, what is the level of seriousness and are evaluating the proposal before getting back to the board. The process is likely to take six weeks, Das added.

Earlier this week, the board of Satyam Computer Services appointed Goldman Sachs and Avendus Capital as investment bankers and mandated Boston Consulting Group (BCG) to act as its management adviser.

Asked whether Satyam's founder Ramalinga Raju had inflated employee numbers as claimed by the Andhra Pradesh police, Das said: "We have done a head count using external agencies and we believe in the basis of investigation that we are well over 50,000 people in Satyam. So I do not think that there is any inflated numbers."

Earlier, Andhra Pradesh CID had claimed in a court that there were 13,000 ghost employees on the rolls of the IT firm, following which the human resources department of Satyam Computer Services conducted a verification of the head count.