YES Bank hits fresh 6-year low on nearly 2% stake sale by promoter

YES Capital, part of the promoter group of YES Bank, sold 1.8 per cent shareholding in the bank for around Rs 240 crore.

Shares of YES Bank hit a fresh six-year low of Rs 48.50, down 5 per cent on the BSE in the intra-day deals on Friday after YES Capital, one of the promoter entities of the private lender, sold nearly 2 per cent stake in the bank.

“YES Capital (India) Private Ltd (“YCPL”), part of the promoter group of YES Bank, has today sold 1.8 per cent shareholding in the Bank,” YES Bank said in a press release on Thursday after market hours.

In a regulatory filing on Wednesday, YES Bank said “the bank has received strong interest from multiple foreign as well as domestic private equity and strategic investors for this capital raise and remains firmly on course to raising growth capital subject to the necessary approvals."

The share sale helped the promoter group entity, owned by Rana Kapoor’s family, raise around Rs 240 crore. YCPL sold 46.5 million shares at Rs 51.94 apiece.

The proceeds will be utilised to prepay entire balance outstanding non-convertible debentures (NCDs) of YCPL subscribed by various schemes of Franklin Templeton Asset Management, it added.

With the share sales, total promoter/promoter group ownership in YES Bank has been reduced to 13.4 per cent in full compliance with Reserve Bank of India (RBI’s) regulatory levels of 15.0 per cent, the bank said.

Last week, another promoter entity Morgan Credits had sold 2.3 per cent stake in YES Bank for Rs 337 crore to prepay a certain part of its outstanding dues to Reliance Nippon Life AMC.

As on June 30, 2019, total promoter/promoter group holding in YES Bank stood at 19.78 per cent, the shareholding pattern data shows.

The stock has declined 13 per cent in the past three trading days and was trading at its lowest level since September 4, 2013, when it hit a low of Rs 49.50 in the intra-day deal. The share price of YES Bank is 12 per cent away from its nearly 10-year low value of Rs 42.84 hit on November 4, 2009 in the intra-day deal.