Bin Laden’s father’s firm to buy 20% stake in Maytas Infra
Bin Laden’s father’s firm to buy 20% stake in Maytas Infra
Hyderabad: A construction firm of Saudi Binladin Group (SBG), promoted by late Sheikh Mohammed Bin Laden, father of world’s most wanted terrorist and founder of al-Qaeda, Osama Bin Laden, is set to pick up 20% stake in infrastructure firm Maytas Infra Ltd.
At a board meeting on Saturday, Maytas Infra, now controlled by private lender Infrastructure Leasing & Financial Services Ltd (IL&FS), has decided to offer 1.54 crore equity shares to SBG Projects Investments Ltd of SBG on preferential allotment basis.
The $5 billion Saudi Binladin Group was founded by Sheikh Mohammed Bin Laden in 1931 and after his death in 1968, the group is now being run by his successors. The Bin Laden family had disowned Osama Bin Laden in 1994, much before the terrorist attack on twin towers of World Trade Center in the US on 11 September 2001.
Ever since it acquired 37.1% in Maytas Infra in September, IL&FS has been trying to revive its operations through capital infusion and debt restructuring. The IL&FS chairman Ravi Parthasarathy had on 1 September said he plans to partner foreign firms to revive the ailing infrastructure firm and infuse fresh equity after at least two quarters.
Maytas Infra, promoted by the family of B. Ramalinga Raju, the jailed founder of Satyam Computer Services Ltd, has been in trouble since he confessed to the country’s biggest accounting fraud at the software firm in January 2009.
While SBG Projects would get 20% stake on the expanded equity base of Maytas Infra, the equity holding of IL&FS will come down to some 29% from 37.1% now, said Maytas Infra company secretary G. Venkateswar Reddy.
On securing 20% stake in Maytas Infra, SBG Projects would become a co-promoter of the company. In terms of Securities and Exchange Board of India’s regulations on substantial acquisition of shares and takeovers, both SBG Projects and IL&FS would come out with a mandatory public offer to the public shareholders of Maytas Infra, said Reddy.
Post-public offer to buy 20% from public shareholders, the equity holdings of both the promoters – SBG Projects and IL&FS, will increase. However, Reddy refused to divulge details on the terms of public offer and the ratio in which SBG Projects and IL&FS will buy shares from public shareholders.
c.sukumar@livemint.com
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