YES Bank stake sale: SBI gets Rs 8,889 crore as SMBC deal completes; shares up 2%

YES Bank stake sale: State Bank of India Ltd (SBI), a public shareholder in YES Bank, on Wednesday said it has completed stake sale in YES Bank, receiving Rs 8,888.97 crore from the Japanese acquirer. The PSU lender sold 413,44,04,897 shares, accounting for 13.19 per cent stake in YES Bank, to Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation (SMBC), a Japanese multinational financial services company belonging to the Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group (SMFG).

The PSU bank stock rose 1.94 per cent to hit a high of Rs 848 on BSE. YES Bank Ltd shares were down 0.43 per cent at Rs 20.91 apiece. SBI sold its stake in YES Bank at Rs 21.50 apiece. SMBC recently obtained the requisite approvals from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on August 22 and CCI September 2 and satisfaction of customary conditions precedent, as laid out in the share purchase agreement dated May 09, 2025, the transfer of shares has been completed today. 

SMBC intends to acquire a total 24.99 per cent stake in YES Bank; of this, it seeks 20 per cent from a slew of banks, with the incremental 4.99 per cent stake likely to be acquired either via secondary purchase or during future capital raise (CET 1 being sub-optimal at 14 per cent). 

SMBC will not have ownership control in YES Bank. It t will have a say on the board in the appointment of the new MD & CEO, who will replace Prashant Kumar. 

SBI Chairman, Shri Challa Sreenivasulu Setty said: “YES Bank restructuring plan by RBI in 2020 was an innovative, first of its kind public sector – private sector partnership that was fully supported and facilitated by Government of India. We are incredibly proud of the journey we have shared with YES Bank in supporting their transformation since we came onboard as the major shareholder in 2020." 

SBI became the largest shareholder of YES Bank in March 2020 under the YES Bank Reconstruction Scheme, 2020, as notified by the Central Government. Subsequently, SBI had also acquired additional shares as part of follow-on public offer by YBL in July 2020. Post the aforesaid divestment, SBI will continue to remain a shareholder in YES Bank with a shareholding of 10.8 per cent of YES Bank shares (Residual shareholding).

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

SBI’s entry into YES Bank helped it stabilise deposit base. SMBC’s entry into YES Bank could potentially lead to one more reset on the asset front, apart from access to sustained source of capital, enhanced governance, management rejig, and possibly some portfolio clean-up, Emkay said.

Emkay Global recently retained its 'Sell' rating on YES Bank with a target price of Rs 17, as core-profitability (PPoP at 0.9 per cent of assets) remains sub-par due to slower growth, lower margin (partly due to drag from industry’s high RIDF pool), and higher operational cost.