India's scandal-hit Satyam to pick winning bid April 13

India's scandal-tainted Satyam said Saturday it expected to announce the winner of bids for a majority stake in the struggling outsourcing giant on April 13.
Satyam's government-appointed board has been looking for a buyer to take a 51-percent stake to inject much-needed funds into the company, whose finances were left in shambles by India's biggest corporate fraud.
The company said it would open the bids on April 13 and announce the winner the same day.
The board met with potential bidders Friday in Mumbai along with investment bankers Goldman Sachs and Avendus and senior Satyam executives.
Indian engineering giant Larsen & Toubro and software services firm Tech Mahindra Ltd, which is partly owned by BT Group Plc, are two confirmed bidders.
But local media reports have said there are up to eight, including a US private equity firm headed by billionaire investor Wilbur Ross, Cognizant Technology Solutions, IBM and buyout company KKR Financial Holdings.
Satyam has declined comment on which companies are in the race.
Larsen & Toubro, which has built up a 12.04 percent stake in Satyam, is considered a front-runner.
Satyam, once India's fourth-biggest software services exporter by sales, has been struggling to pay wages and meet other expenses after founder B. Ramalinga Raju admitted in January he inflated the company's balance sheet by over a billion dollars and exaggerated profits.