Mumbai: Satyam Computer Services’ management and some funds have approached two smaller rivals about a merger to fend off any possible hostile bid for India’s fourth-biggest software services exporter, the Business Standard said on Monday, but one of the firms said it was not interested.

Citing investment banking sources, the newspaper said Satyam held talks with HCL Technologies, which recently bought British consultancy Axon, and MindTree Ltd about a possible merger.

Bangalore-based MindTree said it was not interested.

”There’s no interest from our side. Let me tell you, there is minus interest from us on this idea,” Ashok Soota, executive chairman at MindTree, told Reuters by telephone.

A spokesman for HCL, based in New Delhi, said the report was speculative.

Officials at Satyam, which is also listed in New York, could not immediately be reached for comment.

Speculation about a bid for, or management changes at, Satyam has been mounting since a botched attempt last month by the firm to buy two infrastructure firms in which its management had stakes.

Satyam reversed the decision after shareholders protested, but its shares have slumped by more than a fifth since then and four independent directors have resigned.

The outsourcer said on Friday that the holding of its founders had fallen by a third to 5.13% and analysts said this made Satyam a more attractive target for private equity or global information technology firms.

Satyam has hired the local unit of Merrill Lynch to review ways to enhance shareholder value, and its board is scheduled to meet on 10 January to consider options, including a share buyback.