Factbox: Five facts about Indian outsourcer Satyam

Bangalore: Fraud-hit Satyam Computer Services Ltd could announce the buyer of a majority stake in it as soon as April 13, the deadline for submitting bids.

The Indian outsourcing firm, reeling since its founder and chairman quit in January after unveiling an accounting fraud, is trying to find a buyer of a 51 per cent stake to restore the confidence of its clients and staff.

Following are five facts about Satyam:

Satyam, ranked as India's No 4 software services exporter before the fraud, was founded in 1987 by Ramalinga Raju, who was born into a family of farmers and is a management graduate from Ohio University.

Satyam debuted on the Indian markets in 1991, followed by a listing in New York in 2001. Last year, it launched a secondary listing on Euronext Amsterdam under NYSE Euronext's new "fast path" process for cross-listings in New York and Europe.

Satyam, which specialises in business software and offers back-office outsourcing and consulting services, said it had about 53,000 staff at the end of September last year and more than 600 clients that include General Electric, Cisco Systems, and Qantas Airways.

The government appointed a new board of Satyam, which has hired KPMG and Deloitte to restate accounts after Raju said profits had been overstated for years and assets falsified.

Satyam, based in the southern city of Hyderabad, competes for outsourcing deals with local rivals Tata Consultancy Services and Infosys Technologies as well as global majors such as IBM and Accenture.

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