YES Bank Ltd.’s shares were flattish during Thursday’s otherwise weak trading session, according to a media report, despite brokers urging SBI to sell the private lender’s shares through block deals. According to sources cited by CNBC Awaaz, SBI may be considering a block deal sale of YES Bank shares valued between Rs 5,000 and Rs 7,000 crore. The report stated that if YES Bank shares are sold on the open market to meet capital requirements, SBI might be able to avoid equity dilution. It is expected that the stake sale will take place by March 31st.
According to data, at the end of the December quarter, SBI held 7,51,66,66,000 shares, or 26.13 percent of YES Bank. As of the trade on Thursday, this stake was valued at Rs 22,900 crore. Given that the state-run PSB made pension-related provisioning in the December quarter, it is believed that SBI will benefit from the stake monetisation.
At the end of the third quarter, HDFC Bank held a 3% stake in YES Bank, having recently received approval from the RBI to increase its stake to 9.5%. As of Thursday’s trading price, the 6.5% additional stake that HDFC Bank plans to purchase was valued at Rs 5,747.20 crore.
As of 11:13 am, YES Bank’s shares were down 0.30 percent on the BSE, trading at Rs 29.74. At 71,501.59, the BSE Sensex was down 650.41 points, or 0.90 percent. SBI shares crossed the Rs 700 threshold. They were up Rs 700.55, or 3.71%. Earlier today, the stock reached a high of Rs 718.80.
The private lender also had shares held by ICICI Bank (2.61%), Axis Bank (1.57%), Kotak Mahindra Bank (1.32%), and IDFC First Bank (1%). According to the CNBC Awaaz report, there was no lock-in for SBI on the sale of YES Bank shares, and the sale may not have resulted in any taxes for SBI. The report stated that the SBI board would soon be debating the sale of YES Bank shares, and that the money raised from the stake sale would be utilized to increase balance sheet liquidity.
