SBI divests 13.18% stake in Yes Bank for Rs 8,889 cr

New Delhi: The country’s largest lender State Bank of India on Wednesday announced the completion of the divestment of about 13.18 per cent stake in Yes Bank to Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation of Japan for Rs 8,888.97 crore.

State Bank of India (SBI) has received Rs 8,888.97 crore from the acquirer Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation (SMBC), a Japanese multinational financial services company belonging to the Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group (SMFG), the bank said in a regulatory filing. SMFG is among the leading foreign banks in India. It is the second-largest Banking Group in Japan, with total assets of about $2 trillion.

SBI became the largest shareholder of Yes Bank in March 2020 under its Reconstruction Scheme 2020, as notified by the central government, the PSU bank said in a statement. Subsequently, SBI had also acquired additional shares as part of a follow-on public offer by Yes Bank in July 2020. Post the aforesaid divestment, SBI will continue to remain a shareholder in Yes Bank with a holding of 10.8 per cent, it said.

The partial stake sale by SBI and other shareholder banks in Yes Bank to SMBC represents the largest cross-border investment in the Indian banking sector, it added.

The transaction has received the necessary regulatory and statutory approvals, including from the Reserve Bank of India and the Competition Commission of India.

SBI Chairman CS Setty said, “Yes Bank restructuring plan by the RBI in 2020 was an innovative, first-of-its-kind public sector -- private sector partnership that was fully supported and facilitated by the Government of India”.