Satyam Computer Services, which has started the process to find an investor for the fraud hit company, altered its bidding process on Thursday, to include an open auction in case one or more financial bids are at least 90% of the highest bid, whereby ?the board will treat the highest bid as the floor price and conduct an open auction by asking the highest bidder and those bidders whose bids are at least 90% of the highest bid, to raise their bids,? said a company statement to the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi).
In its earlier notification of the bid process, the company had said that ?in case one or more financial bids are at least 90% of the highest bid, an additional round of sealed financial bids would be invited on the same day from the highest bidder and those parties whose bids are at least 90% of the highest bid.?
Though the company spokesperson, when contacted by FE, refrained from divulging the motive behind the change, it is interesting to note that Spice Group, which had recently pulled out of the race, had been demanding an open auction for deciding the new owner of the company since the very beginning. When contacted by FE, BK Modi, chairman of the Spice Group said that the company is yet to look into the changes made in the process and take a final decision in a board meeting.
The statement said that if none of the bidders raise their financial bids in the open auction, then the highest bidder will be declared as the successful bidder. It also said that if the bids are raised in the open auction, then the highest bidder in the open auction shall be declared the successful bidder.
Other changes in the bid process, announced on Thursday included in the fact that board will rank the bids based on price only. While pulling out of the race, Modi had cited non-transparency in the bid process and had said the board was conducting multiple rounds of short-listing on unknown criteria, which was not acceptable to Spice. Modi had also said that if Satyam?s board alters the bidding process as per its demands, it will reconsider its decision to move out of the race.