With stake sales, Yes Bank poised for a makeover
MUMBAI: Yes Bank’s shareholding structure may witness a major churn by the year-end as founder Rana Kapoor has initiated talks to sell a part of his holding to One97 Communications Ltd, the parent of Paytm and Paytm Payments Bank.
Independently, a Reuters story on Tuesday cited Yes Bank CEO Ravneet Gill as saying that the bank is close to selling a minority stake to a global tech company as part of its capital-raising exercise. Although the bank subsequently denied these reports, Mint has independently verified that such talks might have indeed progressed somewhat.
The tech firm’s association is expected to help further the bank’s digital ambitions.
The bank has already been talking to large private equity firms for capital infusion. On August 30, Yes Bank’s board proposed to increase the bank’s authorized share capital from ₹800 crore to ₹1,100 crore to enable an expansion in the paid-up capital.
If Rana Kapoor does manage to sell his stake to One97 Communications, or any other shareholder, it will not make any difference to the bank’s capital structure. Fresh equity issuance, on the other hand, will lead to dilution in promoter shareholding.
According to senior executives at Yes Bank, the promoters are willing to reduce their shareholding following this stake sale and also amend the articles of association, letting new shareholders get a board seat.
“We are open to reducing stake if the bank decides to sell a minority stake to a global tech firm,” Shagun Gogia told Mint. Gogia is co-promoter Madhu Kapur’s daughter and an additional director on the Yes Bank board. Madhu Kapur and her offices hold 9.17% stake in the bank, as of 30 June.
Rana Kapoor and his family offices hold 10.6% stake in the bank. A person close to Yes Bank’s co-promoter Rana Kapoor’s family said the stake sale to One97 would be completed through the stake held by Kapoor and his promoter group entity Morgan Credits Pvt. Ltd (MCPL); the combined holding of these two entities in Yes Bank is around 7.34%. “There have been discussions between Kapoor, Yes Bank and several fintech firms including One97 Communications Ltd since August,” said the person cited earlier.
A statement issued by the bank to stock exchanges said: “The Bank in its usual and ordinary course of business continues to explore various means of raising capital/funds through issuance of securities to diverse set of investors, in order to meet its business/regulatory requirements, subject to compliance with prescribed procedures and receipt of statutes/regulatory approvals.”
A One97 Communications spokesperson declined to comment on the story. Kapoor also declined to comment on this story. An email sent to Yes Bank also did not elicit a response.