L&T may be split into nine firms, says chairman Naik

Larsen & Toubro, India's biggest engineering conglomerate, may be split into nine companies, some of which may be listed by 2015, the company's chairman A M Naik told a newspaper.

Twenty-one months before he retires, Naik has kicked off a restructuring plan that will divide the Rs37,000-crore company into nine virtual companies.

Each of these 'independent companies' will have a full-fledged chief executive officer, chief financial officer, and human resources head, and will manage its own profit and loss account, Naik said. Each will even have its own board of directors with at least three independent directors.

Some of these independent companies could be spun out of L&T and listed on the bourses before 2015, he said.

''By March 2012, each of these independent companies should by 75 per cent ready to get listed, should we want to list them,'' Naik said. ''We will decide which ones get listed as we go along. I can't tell you now how many will be spun off by 2015.''

The nine boards that will soon be set up at the independent companies will not have any legal or statutory standing, but will merely advise the chief executive officer and management of these entities.