SBI says YES Bank news factually incorrect; shares react

State Bank of India on Thursday said a media report suggesting the bank's intent to sell shares in YES Bank via block deal is factually incorrect. In a filing to BSE, SBI said: "Pursuant to Regulation 30 of SEBI (Listing Obligations and Disclosure Requirements) Regulations, 2015, with reference to the news item appeared in the ‘Website www .moneycontrol. com’ dated 08.02.2024 captioned ‘SBI likely to sell shares in Yes Bank via block deal’, we submit that the news item published in ‘www.moneycontrol’ dated 08.02.2024 is factually incorrect."

Data compiled with corporate data base AceEquity showed that SBI held 7,51,66,66,000 shares, or 26.13 per cent stake in YES Bank at the end of third quarter. This stake was worth Rs 22,900 crore as of Thursday's trade. The stake monetisation, as per the report, was seen helping the state-run PSB, which had in the December quarter some pension-related provisioning.

Shares of YES Bank were trading 2.68 per cent higher at Rs 30.63. Shares of SBI were up 3.54 per cent at Rs 699.40.

Among other YES Bank stakeholders are ICICI Bank (2.61 per cent stake), Axis Bank (1.57 per cent stake), Kotak Mahindra Bank (1.32 per cent stake ) and (IDFC First Bank 1 per cent stake. The CNBC Awaaz had suggested that the YES Bank stake sale would not to attract any taxes for SBI and that there was no lock in for SBI on sale. The SBI board, the report had suggested, would be discussing the sale of shares in YES Bank soon.

HDFC Bank, which recently received the RBI nod to increase stake in YES Bank up to 9.5 per cent, held 3 per cent stake at the end of third quarter. The 6.5 per cent additional stake that HDFC Bank intends to buy was valued at Rs 5,747.20 crore, as of Thursday's trading price.

SBI had recently met with officials of Goldman Sachs AM, Nomura AM SG, Sentosa, Prudence, PG Investment Management and M&G on Wednesday, the company informed stock exchanges. Earlier on Tuesday, State Bank of India met with Kotak Securities.

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