Shares of YES Bank are in focus on Tuesday morning after a media report suggested that the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has given its in-principle approval for up to 51 per cent stake purchase by an appropriate incoming promoter for YES Bank, which is higher than the 26 per cent promoter-holding limit in the usual course of business under banking rules.
The development, if it is true, has set up the stage for a new owner for the private lender that revived following a difficult situation four years ago. A likely stake sale may value India's sixth-largest private bank by assets at around $10 billion, two people with direct knowledge of the development told Mint. Business Today could not independently verify the report.
As per the report, the RBI is still accessing the fit-and-proper status of the bidders, the report suggested adding that the bank has appointed Citigroup to shortlist suitable promoters. State Bank of India (SBI) and other lenders such as HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Axis Bank and LIC own about one-third stake in YES Bank.
Another report by NDTV suggested that SBI was open to selling most of its stake in YES Bank, four years since it rescued the lender. SBI, as per this report, is keen to sell its entire 23.99 per cent stake in YES Bank. International investors are being preferred for SBI's stake sale in YES Bank, NDTV quoted a source as saying. SBI is yet to find a suitable buyer, the report added.
Last week, YES Bank reported a 14.8 per cent year-on-year (YoY) jump in loans and advances at Rs 2,29,920 crore for the June quarter compared with Rs 2,00,204 crore in the same quarter last year.
In a filing to BSE, YES Bank said deposits for the quarter were up 20.8 per cent YoY to Rs 2,64,910 crore from Rs 2,19,369 crore in the corresponding quarter of last year. The bank said its deposit growth excluding CDs came in at 20.9 per cent YoY. On quarterly basis, advances grew 0.9 per cent but deposits growth fell 0.5 per cent.
YES Bank said its CASA came in at Rs 81,405 crore for the June quarter, up 26.1 per cent over Rs 64,568 in the same quarter last year. CASA ratio stood at 30.7 per cent in Q1 against 30.9 per cent in Q4FY24 and 29.4 per cent in the Q1FY24.
Note: YES Bank later clarified that the report regarding the RBI nod to stake sale was factually incorrect. "In this regard, the bank would like to clarify that the contents of the said article are factually incorrect and purely speculative in nature. RBI has not given any in principle approval as stated in the article and this clarification is issued by the company voluntarily to dispel the baseless media article," YES Bank told stock exchanges.