L&T, Mindtree ‘tussle’ could drag beyond open offer

The "tussle" for control of Mindtree may drag on well post the L&T's open offer for 31% stake at Rs 980 per share, believe some of the shareholders of the mid-sized information technology (IT) firm DNA Money spoke to.

With Pulak Prasad of Nalanda Capital, along with Mindtree management, reportedly rallying with minority investors to not surrender their stake to L&T, "the tussle will go beyond the open offer," one of the shareholders, who owns a minority stake, spoke on condition of anonymity.

According to him, if Prasad, who owns 10% stake in Mindtree, and the four founders with 13.32% share succeed in dissuading investors from offloading shares to L&T, the latter may not be able to reach the controlling stake of 51%.