Thursday, March 5, 2009

Scandal-hit Satyam set to be sold off

NEW DELHI, India (CNN) -- India's scandal-hit Satyam Computer Services is set to solicit bids from buyers, Chairman Kiran Karnik told CNN Wednesday.

"We hope to invite expressions of interest in the next few days," he said.

The Hyderabad-based company is at the center of a massive corporate fraud case after its former chairman admitted to inflating profits with fictitious assets and non-existent cash.

Satyam aims to wrap up the entire bidding process in six weeks from the day it starts, Karnik said. But the company's audited statement will not be ready anytime soon. Satyam would therefore share all other information it can legally with the bidders, he added.

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The company's stock plummeted after then-Chairman B. Ramalinga Raju confessed in January to padding company balance sheets. Raju, his brother -- a former managing director -- and Satyam's chief financial officer face numerous charges, including criminal conspiracy.

The company is India's fourth-largest software-services provider. It serves almost 700 companies, including 185 Fortune 500 companies, and generates more than half its revenue from the United States. It employs about 53,000 people and operates in 65 countries.

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