MUMBAI: The Reserve Bank has given an in principle approval to final the Japanese financial major Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation (SMBC) to acquire an additional 4.99% equity Yes Bank with voting rights but not being tagged as its promoter entity.
This approval takes the total Japanese ownership in the domestic bank to 24.99% as it had already agreed to to pick 20% in the bank in May this year for Rs 13,483 crore or Rs 21.5 per share.
Yes bank informed the exchanges on Saturday that the RBI has said despite owning a quarter of the bank, the Japanese lender will not be considered as the promoter of the lender but will enjoy voting rights on 24.99 % paid up equity shares.
The State Bank, which owns 23.97% in the private sector bank since March 2020 when it went belly up and was rescued by the RBI, will sell 13.19% stake for Rs 8,889 crore, while the six other banks-- Axis Bank, Bandhan Bank, Federal Bank, HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, IDFC First Bank and Kotak Mahindra Bank-- together will sell the 6.81% stake for Rs 4,594 crore, Yes Bank said on May 9 this year.
Since there is no regulatory lock in period for existing shareholders who are mostly banks who will sell and how much is not known immediately, taking its ownership to 1 tad less than a fourth of its equity.
The new RBI approval has one-year validity for completion, the yes bank statement said.
However, the regulator said the Japanese bank will not tagged as the promoter of the midsized domestic lender which went belly up in March 2020 due to corruption by the promoter and CEO Rana Kapoor and was revived by an RBI-led rescue plan wherein the State Bank and nine other banks owned it.
The in principal approval is subject to compliance with the Banking Regulation Act, 1949, RBI’s master directions and guidelines on acquisition and holding of shares or voting rights in banks issued on January 16, 2023 and all other relevant laws of the land.
Significantly, the two private equity investors--Advent International which owns 9.20% and Carlyle with 6.82% stake are not participating in the first deal with SMbC.
With sale price of Rs 21.5 a share, SBI will earning 115% on its investment and so will be other lenders who include HDFC Bank (2.75%, down from 10% originally), ICICI Bank (2.39%, down from 10% originally), Kotak Mahindra Bank (1.21%) and Axis Bank (1.01%). That apart, LIC owns 3.98%, private equity firms Advent International (9.20%) and Carlyle (6.82%).
In the RBI managed rescue deal in March 2020, SBI had picked up 49% in the bank for Rs 10 a share, and had pared its stake to 30% in the follow-on-offer in in July 2020 and further to 23.97% when Advent and Carlyle entered the bank in March 2023.