Larsen and Toubro Ltd (L&T) will have to postpone its open offer to Mindtree shareholders by at least two weeks after the markets regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) sent late queries to the engineering conglomerate that it could answer only on 10 May, Mint reported.

The open offer, as per the original schedule, was to start on May 14 and close on May 27.

Sebi's queries to L&T were sent on April 25 and required the firm to seek answers from Mindtree. This has led L&T, which holds a 26 percent stake in Mindtree, to postpone its takeover bid for the IT services firm, Mint reported.

According to L&T's plans submitted to Sebi, the firm intends to buy 20.32 percent of Mindtree stake jointly owned by Cafe Coffee Day (CCD) founder VG Siddhartha and CCD's two associate firms. L&T would then buy 15 percent of the company from the open market and 31 percent through an open offer at a price of Rs 980 per share, the report added. If the deal goes through, it will mark the first hostile takeover of an IT services firm in India.