Business

SBI, LIC to rescue Yes Bank with 49 % stake in the private sector lender: Reports

Sentinel Digital Desk

NEW DELHI: In a bailout approved by RBI and the government, LIC and SBI are expected to pick up 24.5 percent stake each in Yes Bank.

The deal will be worth Rs 490 crore, claim reports.

Just yesterday, the Stock exchange had sought clarification from Yes Bank on the news of Government approving a plan to allow an SBI-led consortium to buy a stake in the private lender.

The Exchange has sought clarification from Yes Bank on March 5, 2020, with reference to news flashed on Bloomberg dated March 05, 2020, quoting “Government is said to have approved @TheOfficialSBI’s plan to buy stake in @YESBANK, said to ask SBI to form consortium for Yes Bank stake”, Yes Bank said in a filing. “Reply is awaited”, BSE said.

In January this year, the private lender had reassured customers that its overall Capital Adequacy Ratio (CAR) is above regulatory requirements and that its operations are stable.

The bank gave the reassurance in response to what it called the recent “unsubstantiated and irresponsible press or social media speculation about” the lender.

“… In this regard, it may be noted that the bank’s overall ‘Capital Adequacy Ratio’ is comfortably above regulatory requirements and all efforts are being made to financially strengthen the bank even further,” the lender said in a statement. “Kindly, therefore, pay no heed to these unfounded reports.”

Former head of the audit committee of the Yes Bank board Uttam Prakash Agarwal had filed a complaint with the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) seeking a probe into “the illegal gains made by a certain set of people” in giving misleading information to the markets and the people on potential investors, including Citax and Erwin Singh Braich.

In December last year, rating agency ICRA downgraded Yes Bank’s Rs 52,911.70 crore worth bond programme citing continued uncertainty regarding the timing and quantum of capital raised by the bank.