The race for Yes Bank is hotting up.
Shares in the bank leapt over 5 per cent on Monday after reports suggested that two Japanese banking entities — Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group and Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp — and Emirates NBD of the UAE were vying for a majority stake in the banking entity.
With over 850 branches, NBD Emirates is a major player in the corporate and retail banking space in the UAE. It has operations in Singapore, UK, Germany, Saudi Arabia as well as India and Russia.
If the stake sale goes through, it may see SBI exiting Yes Bank eventually. Currently, the country’s largest lender holds a stake of 26.13 per cent in Yes Bank.
The other key investors include Kotak Mahindra Bank, Life Insurance Corporation, HDFC Bank, IDFC First Bank, Axis Bank. Their combined holding stands at over 13 per cent. Following the report, the Yes Bank share rose 5.30 per cent to close at Rs 25.21 on the BSE. More than 3.15 crore shares were transacted in the bourse as compared with the two-week average of 2.55 crore shares.
At the close of trading, Yes Bank had a market cap of Rs 72,523.83 crore. On the NSE, the scrip settled at Rs 25.25, a gain of 5.43 per cent over the previous close.
The lender had reported a net profit of Rs 231 crore for the third quarter ended December 31 compared with Rs 52 crore a year ago. During the period, core net interest income rose 2.3 per cent to Rs 1,971 crore.