Battle for Mindtree: Impact on MF investors
In the first-ever hostile takeover attempt in the Indian IT space, L&T is making aggressive moves to acquire a controlling stake in Mindtree. There are a few institutional shareholders who may play an ultimate role in deciding in whose favour the deal goes. Some of the prominent international institutional holders are Nalanda India Fund, holding 8.87 per cent and Amansa Holdings Private Limited holding 2.77 per cent at the end of third quarter FY19.
Nonetheless, in the fight between promoters and L&T, we see minority shareholders gaining at least in the short-run. If media reports are to be believed, institutional investors may agree to sell their stake in the company, if the deal is sweetened.
Among the Indian mutual fund companies holding the highest number of shares of Mindtree is UTI AMC, holding 2.98 per cent shares at the end of December 2018. This holding is spread in 13 funds.
The second largest holder is L&T AMC, which holds 1.12 per cent in five funds.
| Fund Houses | No. of Funds | No. Of shares | % of Total Shares |
| UTI | 13 | 4878841 | 2.98% |
| L&T | 5 | 1839050 | 1.12% |
| Franklin | 2 | 1739430 | 1.06% |
| DSP | 3 | 1520647 | 0.93% |
| Kotak | 3 | 915600 | 0.56% |
In terms of funds, that have the highest holding of Mindtree in their portfolio are:
| Fund Name | Fund Manager | Feb-19 % of AUM |
| Aditya Birla SL Digital India Fund(G) | Kunal Sangoi | 6.21 |
| BOI AXA Arbitrage Fund-Reg(G) | Ajay Khandelwal | 4.48 |
| UTI Focussed Equity Fund-V(G) | Vetri Subramaniam | 3.97 |
| DHFL Pramerica Midcap Opp Fund-Reg(G) | Aniruddha Naha | 2.95 |
| UTI Equity Fund-Reg(G) | Ajay Tyagi | 2.87 |
| SBI Technology Opp Fund-Reg(G) | Anup Upadhyay | 2.72 |
| Franklin India Prima Fund(G) | R. Janakiraman | 2.36 |
| Essel Long Term Advantage Fund-Reg(G) | Viral Berawala | 2.29 |
| UTI MEPUS | Sanjay Ramdas Dongre | 2.16 |
The analysis of the holdings of Mindtree shares among the institutional holders shows that individual investors do need to worry about their investment in any funds that have invested in the company, as their holdings are not substantial.