A Satyam Computer Services sell-off could follow the way of erstwhile Unit Trust of India. This would mean bifurcating the company: one part with the troubled assets taking upon itself the lawsuits, which would be handled with government help, while the functional business part would be sold off. But a decision on any such plan would have to be taken by the new board, which will be meeting in Hyderabad on Thursday and Friday.

The possibility of a buyout was confirmed on Tuesday by Tarun Das, one of the six-member board headed by Deepak Parekh. He told reporters that some domestic and foreign companies had expressed interest in taking over the IT company. ?The board has not yet discussed the issue of looking for a buyer. But I have to truthfully say, we have been approached by potential buyers,? said Das, chief mentor of CII, at The Partnership Summit 2009 in New Delhi. He said offers had come from multinational entities and Indian IT companies.

While Das did not name the interested companies, L&T chief AM Naik met corporate affairs minister Prem Chand Gupta along with key ministry officials and discussed options related to L&T?s ?strategic? investment in Satyam. Later, Naik said he was worried about his stake in Satyam, but did not disclose any further details about the meeting. L&T acquired a little over 4% in Satyam earlier this month, just days before Ramalinga Raju confessed to the Rs 7,000-crore fraud in the company.

In another development, Essar Group?s Aegis BPO has written to the Satyam board expressing interest in taking over its BPO arm, Nipuna, although no value for the subsidiary was specified. This would be ascertained once the Satyam board approves the intent and due diligence is conducted.

?We have sent a letter to the new Satyam board, but we have not made any offer. We have showed interest in an asset carve-out. However, the deal could be around $50 million (Rs 250 crore),? commented a company official on condition of anonymity. Aegis BPO CEO & MD Aparup Sengupta refused to comment. Both companies have customers in banking, financial services & insurance, retail, energy & utilities and entertainment.

Das said the bidders are not among the top IT companies of India, which would eliminate Infosys, Wipro and TCS. This is further indication that Satyam could be sold once the troubled part is carved out.

Sources said that the strategy to bifurcate the then UTI worked well. The Specified Undertaking of UTI holds all the troubled assets like US-64, while the rest was spun off into a new company: UTI AMC. Das said Satyam is focusing on keeping the business running and in that context, the appointment of a CEO and CFO ?are high priorities for the board?. ?The priority is to keep the company going, to look after and retain customers and employees. Clients are reported to be concerned, naturally. We are reaching out to them to assure them as we have excellent people, engineers, technology to service them,? he said.