Satyam's new board today decided to invite bids from strategic investors to steer the company and fire its statutory auditor Price Waterhouse, which failed to detect a massive accounting fraud in the IT giant.

The decision of the government-appointed board will allow suitors to make formal offers to acquire Satyam, whose books, according to its founder B Ramalinga Raju, was fudged for many years.

Engineering giant Larsen and Toubro has acquired over 12 per cent stake in Satyam through open market transactions, while B K Modi-led Spice Corp has said it was interested in acquiring a controlling 51 per cent stake in the IT major -- ranked the fourth largest before the fraud came to light.

The Company Law Board on Thursday gave its nod for sale of a minimum 26 per cent stake in Satyam.A statement from Satyam said the board, chaired by Kiran Karnik, also recommended to the government the removal of auditor Price Waterhouse and appointment of a new bookkeeper.

PW's partners S Gopalakrishnan and Talluri Srinivas, who were handling the Satyam account, are currently in judicial custody awaiting trial.

The statement also said Satyam has received new orders worth USD 250 million in the last seven weeks.