Is IBM interested in Satyam?

World’s giant IT organization IBM is understood to be the front-runner to acquire Satyam Computer Solutions, a company it named as one of its main competitors in a filing to the New York Stock Exchange.

The IT giant, said sources close to the developments, has begun discussions with Satyam's government-nominated board and expressed its desire to acquire a majority stake in the company. A team of investment bankers and lawyers from the US and Europe has been brought in to assess the size of the deal and the risks associated with it. The company is also understood to have conducted an initial due diligence on some of Satyam's major customers.

A week ago, Minister of Corporate Affairs P C Gupta said the open bids would not be restricted to Indian players. IBM was named one of the hostile bidders for Satyam by promoter Ramalinga Raju at the company's December 16 board meeting. Other prominent players in the race are Larsen & Toubro, which owns 12 per cent in Satyam, and the B K Modi- owned Spice group.

If IBM wins the race to acquire Satyam, it will become the largest IT services player in India, with combined employee strength of over 125,000 people.

America will change policies towards Pakistan, Afghanistan: Obama

After attack on Sri Lankan cricketers in Pakistan, US President Barack Obama has expressed deep concern about an attack on the Sri Lankan cricket team in Pakistan, saying the country's frontier regions still remain safe havens for Al Qaeda terrorists and his government was reviewing policies towards that region.

'The details are still coming in, and so I don't want to be too specific’, Obama told reporters Tuesday after meeting with British Prime Minister Gordon Brown. 'O bviously we're deeply concerned.'

'The truth is that the situation in Afghanistan has deteriorated, the safe havens for Al Qaeda remain in the frontier regions of Pakistan and we are conducting currently a comprehensive review of our policies,' he said.

Obama said the review looked at US policy toward Afghanistan and Pakistan and coordination with NATO allies and other members of the international security force in Afghanistan.

He would make announcements ahead of the NATO summit in April about 'the direction the United States would like to go,' he said. 'What I'm confident in is that our strongest partner in that effort once again will be the United Kingdom' and Brown.

'We condemn this vicious attack on innocent civilians but also on the positive relations that Pakistan and Sri Lanka are trying to enjoy,' he said. 'This is an attack on peaceful, normal relations, and we utterly condemn this terrorist attack.'

Raju and 4 others in custody of CBI

The CBI moved a local court here to seek the custody of tainted Satyam Computer founder B Ramalinga Raju and involved four others for questioning in connection with the Rs 7,800-crore accounting scam in the IT Company.

The move from the CBI comes after receiving legal opinion that the agency could question Raju and others. Its prosecution department, citing a Supreme Court ruling, had claimed that it could not seek Raju's custody. The official said an application seeking seven days custody of the five accused, including Raju, was filed by the CBI in the court of XIV Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate.

The judge asked the CBI's public prosecutor to serve notices to defence lawyers tomorrow. Besides Ramalinga Raju, the CBI wants to question company's former managing director Rama Raju, ex-CFO Vadlamani Srinivas and sacked partners of PriceWaterhouse S Gopalakrishnan and Talluri Srinivas.