Even as many people in the city who own Satyam shares are feeling the heat, there are actually some who are picking up the shares at the current rock bottom price, in the hope that a bail-out will soon revive the company and eventually get them handsome profits.

“I bought 200 shares a couple of days ago, following the advice of a share broker. The share value was around Rs 40 and I think the company will be taken over by some other firm. Once the government puts the act together, a clear picture will evolve and the share value could go high,” opined chartered accountant Chandrashekara Yardi.

Ajay Laddha of Khantwala Securities Ltd confirmed that around 100 people approached him to buy Satyam shares on Friday, when it had touched the Rs 20 mark. “Most of them were senior people who have been into the share market for a long time. People are still buying Satyam shares, anticipating that once the government takes control everything will fall in order and the shares of the company will shoot up,” he explained.

Satyam employees are, however, not so hopeful. It was a similar thought process that had prompted many staff of Satyam, too, to go in for shares some weeks back but most regret that move today.

“There was talk about a possible hostile takeover of the company, which caused a dip in the share value. We were told that lot of insider trading was taking place and to support the firm, many employees did purchase shares. But I think I overreacted when I, along with my friend, purchased 2,000 shares with an investment of around Rs 3,50,000. But we haven't lost hope. The new board of directors being appointed by the government might turn things around,” said an employee. On the other hand, Satyam employees Adarsh and Rahul (names changed), who jointly purchased 1,000 shares, rue the fact that they had decided against selling their shares some time back, on the basis of advice from certain quarters. For former Merchant Navy officer Augusto, it was a power failure that prevented him from trading his shares online.

... contd.