Fraud-hit Satyam sought permission Wednesday to find a buyer, warning many key clients had threatened to leave the Indian outsourcing giant due to its fragile financial position, a report said. The government-appointed board of Satyam asked India's Company Law Board to be allowed to increase its authorised share capital to issue preferential shares to any investor, the Press Trust of India said.
The board has appointed Goldman Sachs and Avendus, an Indian investment bank, to seek a buyer for Satyam. In January, company founder B. Ramalingam Raju declared he had overstated the company's profits for years and inflated the balance sheet of Satyam by more than a billion dollars in a scandal that has shaken corporate India.
The board has said many potential buyers have approached the company. In its petition, Satyam asked the Company Law Board to permit it "to devise a plan which provides for transparent, open and competitive process for continued operation" of the company in the interests of its all shareholders. The report said the company planned to hold an auction to find a buyer.