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.

L&T recently got four orders from Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, and Oman, aggregating $217.45 million (Rs1,044 crore) for building electrical sub-stations. It had also got a $153.45-million (Rs736 crore) contract from Qatar Petroleum to build four sub-stations at Ras Laffan.

L&T also got contracts worth Rs5,300 crore to build offshore platforms for ONGC, signalling a return of large orders from hydrocarbon companies and also setting the stage for similar contracts from power companies. L&T got the current contracts after beating global majors such as Samsung, Hyundai and NPCC, it said.

Separately, the company's subsidiary, L&T Finance said it would be able to raise Rs1,000 crore through an ongoing redeemable non-convertible debentures issue. The issue closes on 4 September.

With its smaller ship-building facility at Hazira in Gujarat, the company managed an order for 10 vessels, valued at Rs2,000 crore, according to chief financial officer Y M Deosthalee. ''The company has a Rs1,500-crore capital expenditure plan for this financial year and most of it will be spent for building the greenfield shipyard near Chennai,'' he added. It is also buying a new installation barge for Rs800 crore.

The company has decided to delay the Seawood realty project by three years, as related developments near the location are taking time. ''We will complete the project in six phases against the said three phases. Thus, it will take eight to nine years to complete it,'' said Naik.