'Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp awaiting RBI call to buy 25% in Yes Bank'
Yes Bank
, giving the
Japanese lender
sufficient headroom to immediately increase its ownership, one person directly aware of the details told ET. In May
SMBC
had said it will buy 20% from a clutch of local banks for which it had signed an agreement.
"The SMBC application pending with the
Reserve Bank of India
seeks to buy up to a 25% stake in Yes Bank. That is different from the binding agreement it had signed in May to buy a 20% stake from the
State Bank of India
(SBI) and others," said this person, on the condition of anonymity.
"It means that if the
RBI approval
comes through, SMBC can go up to 25% after buying stakes from other investors in the bank," this person said on the condition of anonymity.
Emails sent to
Yes Bank
, SMBC and the RBI did not elicit any response until the publication of this report. Yes Bank shares rose 2.40% to ₹20 apiece on the BSE on Tuesday.
Earlier on Tuesday, news outlets citing unnamed sources had said that SMBC sought RBI approval to acquire an additional 4.9% stake in Yes Bank to take its total ownership in the bank to just under 25%.
SMBC is exploring an additional investment of $1.1 billion in Yes Bank, media reports said.
The person cited above told ET that SMBC always had plans to buy 25% in the
Indian lender
.
In May, SMBC had entered into a binding agreement to take 20% ownership in Yes Bank from SBI (13.19%), and
Axis Bank
,
Bandhan Bank
,
Federal Bank
,
HDFC Bank
,
ICICI Bank
,
IDFC First Bank
and
Kotak Mahindra Bank
(together, 6.81%).
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