Yes Bank plans $1-billion ADR issue next fiscal

The bank has its shareholders' nod to raise up to $1 billion either through an ADR or a QIP issue

Mid-sized private sector lender Yes Bank has said it would prefer raising money through an ADR issue under its USD 1-billion capital infusion plan next fiscal and stressed that the court order in a case involving its promoters will not impact these plans.

"The aspiration is to do an ADR (American depository receipts) issue. It will be our first such issue. It helps the profile of the bank and more diverse investors can come in," bank's president for financial markets Jaideep Iyer told PTI.

However, he admitted that the cost of raising capital through ADRs is higher than other instruments and the bank will have to improve on compliance and corporate governance to meet the stringent norms by the US Securities and Exchange Commission.

The bank has its shareholders' nod to raise up to USD 1 billion either through an ADR or a qualified institutional placement (QIP) issue.

When asked about the timing of the issue, Iyer said that it will most likely be in the next fiscal, saying the bank can sustain with the current capital even if it grows its asset book by 30 per cent this fiscal.

"The visibility of the issue is for next fiscal and not so

much this fiscal. But we should have all the enabling provisions in place to do an issue," he said.

When asked if the bank has an amount in mind, Iyer said such details will be worked out closer to the issue.

Yes Bank's larger rival HDFC Bank was the last lender to have done an ADR, when it successfully raised Rs 10,000 crore earlier this year.

Other companies which have raised money through this route include Tata Motors, ICICI Bank, MTNL, Infosys, Vedanta, Wipro, the erstwhile Satyam Computers and Rediff.Com.

For its tier-II capital, Iyer said the bank is already in the market to raise up to Rs 500 crore through a rupee bond sale, which will be subscribed by institutional investors.

As against an enabling provision to raise up to Rs 10,000 crore, Iyer said it can do up to Rs 5,000 crore this fiscal.

When asked about the impact of the Bombay High Court judgement on the issue involving bank's promoters -- managing director and chief executive Rana Kapoor and Madhu Kapur, who is the wife of late co-founder Ashok Kapur--, Iyer replied in the negative.

"There is no impact of the judgement on our operations, it has nothing to do with governance issues. Even if we were listed on the NYSE today, we would comply with all the requirements," he asserted.