YES Bank and SBI Stake Sale News: YES Bank's share price plummeted to a day low at 3:00 PM today, amid rumors that State Bank of India (SBI) may sell its 24% interest in the former by the end of March. According to Reuters, SBI plans to sell its 24% interest in YES Bank for Rs 18,420 crore ($2.2 billion) by the end of March 2025.
"Japanese lender Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp. and Dubai-based Emirates NBD are in advanced talks to buy a majority stake in YES Bank." Both bidders are interested in purchasing a majority 51% stake in YES Bank to have significant control over the bank's operations, according to the report.
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has orally approved the request, and due diligence is underway, according to the statement. While Business Standard was unable to independently verify the story, SBI informed Reuters it firmly denied any developments in this situation. In response to Reuters' question, YES Bank stated that it had "no comments to offer regarding (the) stake sale as these inquiries are speculative in nature."
Following the news, YES Bank's share price fell almost 1% to Rs 24.23 per share on the BSE, pulled down by 12.29 million shares. The lender, however, outperformed the market, as the BSE Sensex fell 705 points (0.9 percent) to 78,943. SBI's share price declined 1.7% to Rs 798.5 per share.
The revelation comes as YES Bank, in an exchange filing on July 9, stated that press reports saying the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) had approved the sale of a 51% share in the bank are "factually incorrect".
"The contents of the said article are factually incorrect and purely speculative in nature," the bank stated in a stock market statement last month.
Notably, the RBI reorganized YES Bank in March 2020 with the assistance of a consortium of local banks when its financial condition worsened. State Bank of India owned almost 24% of YES Bank at the end of the June quarter, while 11 other lenders, including ICICI Bank and HDFC Bank, had a combined 9.74% share.
