MUMBAI: Many investors sold shares of Yes Bank as the three-year lock-in period mandated by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) for investors ended on Monday. As a result, the shares of the private lender fell 13% to an 8-month low of Rs 14.40 on the BSE in intra-day trade but regained some lost ground later to close 5% lower at Rs 15.65 apiece.
A total of 89.40 lakh shares changed hands on the exchange against a two-week average volume of 302.81 lakh shares. The lock-in was imposed as per the Yes Bank Reconstruction Scheme, 2020, wherein a consortium of 10 institutions led by SBI had infused Rs 10,000 crore to recover the bank. The scheme imposed a 3-year lock-in on the existing shareholders of the bank, except for the ones holding less than 100 shares, for up to 75% of their shareholding.
Yes Bank shares have fallen by more than 50% since the restructuring, including about 20% this year after the lender reported a surprise 80% drop in quarterly profit in January. At its lowest on Monday, Yes Bank’s shares registered their biggest intra-day fall in nearly three years, before recovering to trade 3.3% lower at Rs 15.95.
“Going ahead, the bank is poised to pedal higher advance growth, driven by granular retail assets, as it concluded Rs 8,900 crore of capital raise from Carlyle and Advent. Focus on growth along with margin improvement may enable the bank to improve its RoA to the guidance of around 0.9-1% in FY25,” said Pankaj Pandey, head of research, ICICI Direct.
“Given Security Receipt (SR) of Rs 3770 crore (from the sale of stressed assets of the face value of Rs 6,800 crore) and ageing on the same, earnings could remain volatile on a quarterly basis,” he added. The ongoing legal tussle over write-off of Additional Tier 1 (AT-1) bonds in the Supreme Court will decide the course for Yes Bank shares.