The Hindu Business Line : Who owned Satyam shares sold by IL&FS Trust

Hyderabad, Jan. 17 A day before Mr B. Ramalinga Raju, former Chairman of Satyam Computer Services, made the revelations about the Rs 7,136-crore financial fraud, IL&FS Trust informed the stock exchanges that it had sold 2.45 crore Satyam shares between December 23, 2008 and January 5, 2009.

Nearly half of these shares, it now transpires, were actually in the name of two companies — Bangar Agro Pvt Ltd and Harangi Agro Farms Pvt Ltd — owned by the wives of Mr Ramalinga Raju and Mr B. Rama Raju, former Managing Director of Satyam.

Though the stock-sale had raised many eyebrows as it coincided with the company taking a severe beating, IL&FS Trust claimed that it had sold the shares on the “specific written instructions” of the debenture holders and lenders — DSP Merrill Lynch, DSP BlackRock, Deutsche Bank, HDFC Mutual Fund and IL&FS Financial Services.

These institutions were holding the total shares pledged with them by Bangar Agro, Harangi Agro Farms, Amravati Greenfields Pvt Ltd and Naryandri Greenfields Pvt Ltd.

The four borrowing companies pledged Satyam shares as security to raise money from the debenture holders. In order to meet margins (if share prices fall steeply and the shares are not able to cover the extent of the borrowed money), the debenture holders must have instructed the trust to sell the shares.

While Ms B. Nandini Raju (wife of Mr Ramalinga Raju) was a key promoter of Bangar Agro, Ms B. Radha (wife of Mr Rama Raju) was Founder-Director of Harangi Agro Farms.

According to the registration documents filed with the Ministry of Corporate Affairs, both the companies were headquartered out of Hyderabad. Both were set up in a span of six weeks (August-September 2006), with the text of articles of association reading the same.

While Bangar Agro pledged 86 lakh Satyam shares (sold by IL&FS on December 23, 29 and 30, 2008), Harangi Agro (along with Naryandri Greenfields) pledged 35 lakh shares (sold on January 5 — two days before the revelations made by Mr Ramalinga Raju).

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