We are looking at an unusual spectacle unfolding in the Satyam saga. The government of India in the quest of some misplaced objective is spending tax payers money and time to revive a rotten case. Worse this is creating a market for scavengers on Dalal Street.
Yes the employees need to be helped and the customers interests protected. That is best done by aggregating the clients whose jobs were being handled by Satyam and the workers on the rolls into a special purpose vehicle which should be bundled and auctioned among the top three companies or sold to an eager beaver like L&T.
The harsh truth of capitalism is that trust once lost cannot be regained. I cannot see any responsible company wanting to give orders or continue beyond a point with the beleaguered entity. So while the going is good let's shift the order book to three or four big companies and retain the market share. The employees working on these accounts naturally move to the new entity.
Let us not uphold any misplaced sense of obligation to the shareholders. They are after all risk capital investors and by definition expected to bear the risk. Secondly given the nature of the fraud its not clear if the so called FII investments are ordinary investors or benami beneficiaries who are fronting for politicians. Indeed the task force should publish the names of these investors so that the public at large and regulators know true beneficial ownership.
Of course when the entity is buried its assets -which will include money raised from the sale of customer accounts and fixed assets like land and office premises - can be distributed among the owners of shares.
The best course of action is to take out the good and bury the rest.. As of now the "rescue mission" has become a fig leaf of distraction. The sooner the final rites of this stinking cadaver is conducted the better it is. That will also free energies to fix responsibility and hang the guilty.
