L&T expects Rs250 crore profit from Satyam stake sale

Engineering major Larsen & Toubro plans to exit from Mahindra Satyam, formerly Satyam Computer Services, once the lock-in period for its 12 per cent stake expires in October. It is aiming to complete the transaction by the end of the current fiscal, L&T chairman A M Naik told shareholders at the company's annual general meeting yesterday.

 ''We have provided for a loss (on the sale) out of abundant caution. As of today, we are running a net profit of Rs350 crore and I expect by the time we sell them, we'll make a net profit after tax of Rs200-250 crore,'' Naik added.

The country's largest engineering firm had joined the race to buy the Hyderabad-based software company, before losing out to Tech Mahindra, the telecom arm of the Mahindra & Mahindra group. Bidders for Satyam are barred from selling stakes acquired prior to the bid for six months, as they had access to Satyam's financial information.

On its business prospects, Naik said L&T, which focuses largely on the power, oil and gas and engineering sectors, has already booked orders totalling Rs10,000 crore last month, and is expecting an additional Rs10,000-crore orders next month. This includes a contract for roads worth Rs1,400 crore in Tamil Nadu.

L&T also obtained an enabling resolution from the shareholders to raise $600 million from qualified institutional placements.

The company has been seeing increased activity both locally and overseas, as governments worldwide stepped up their investments in public projects to revive their economies. ''West Asia continues to be a focus area for us and we have enhanced our footprint in the Gulf Co-operation Council (GCC) region,'' said Naik.