Bidders' insistence on 51% stake in Yes Bank may jeopardise stake buy

Bidders' insistence on having a 51 per cent stake in Yes Bank may end up jeopardising the stake buy, an informed source said on Thursday.

When asked on whether the deal will go through by the end of this fiscal, the source, who is not authorised to speak to the media, said the deal itself is in a quandary.

As per the source, the talks on any deal "are not going anywhere" because of all the bidders' push on the 51 per cent stake.

The source explained that the RBI is uncomfortable with a foreign entity owning a 51 per cent stake in a big entity like Yes Bank.

There are reports of two bidders being in the fray including Japan's SMBC and Emirates NBD.

The suitors are directly speaking with RBI, but the central bank is not amenable on giving the ownership control.

At present, the regulations allow for a maximum of 26 per cent stake by an entity in a bank and in cases where it is higher, has set a fixed timeline for getting it down.

As per the source, there has been no progress on the "fit and proper" aspects.

The SMBC leadership was in the country last month reportedly with regard to the proposed acquisition and was scheduled to hold meetings with RBI and also SBI.

It can be noted that Yes Bank had to be bailed out in 2020 in a special deal under which an SBI-led consortium of lenders picked up stakes in Yes Bank and successfully avoided any damage to the system.

SBI, which owns 24 per cent of Yes Bank, is the largest shareholder in the lender at present and has been keen on selling the stake by the end of FY25 as per the reports which pegged the value of SBI's stake at $ 2.2 billion.

There was a three-year lock-in period on the investment for the backers of the bank, and the end of the period has led to conversations on a stake buy.