SBI may sell 24% stake in YES Bank by March 2025, says report; shares fall

YES Bank, SBI stake sale news: YES Bank share price today fell to the day's low, at around 3:00 PM, amid reports that State Bank of India (SBI) may offload its 24-per cent stake in the former by March end.

According to a Reuters report, SBI is planning to sell its 24 per cent stake in YES Bank, worth Rs 18,420 crore ($2.2 billion) by the end of March 2025.

"Japanese lender Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp and Dubai-based Emirates NBD are in advanced talks to acquire a majority stake in YES Bank. Both the bidders are interested in acquiring a majority 51 per cent stake in YES Bank to get sizable control of the bank's business," the report said. READ REPORT HERE

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has verbally given approval to the proposal and due diligence is on, it added. While Business Standard could not independently verify the report, SBI told Reuters it categorically denies any development in this matter.

In a response to Reuters' query, YES Bank said it had "no comments to offer regarding (the) stake sale as these inquiries are speculative in nature."

On the bourses, YES Bank share price fell around 1 per cent to Rs 24.23 per share after the news break, weighed by 12.29 million shares on the BSE. The lender, however, was outperforming the market as the BSE Sensex was down 705 points (0.9 per cent) at 78,943 level. SBI share price, meanwhile, fell 1.7 per cent to Rs 798.5 per share.

The news comes even as YES Bank, on July 9, said in an exchange filing that news reports claiming the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has approved for the sale of a 51 per cent stake in the bank is "factually incorrect".

"The contents of the said article are factually incorrect and purely speculative in nature," the bank had said in a stock exchange filing last month. READ HERE

Notably, YES Bank was restructured by the RBI in March 2020 with the help of a consortium of local banks after its financial health deteriorated.

SBI held about 24 per cent in YES Bank at the end of the June quarter, while 11 other lenders, including ICICI Bank and HDFC Bank, together held 9.74 per cent stake.