Khazanah sells entire Yes Bank stake for Rs527 crore

Khazanah Nasional the sovereign wealth fund of Malaysia, today sold its entire 4.17-per cent stake in private lender Yes Bank, for about $106 million (Rs527 crore).

The sale is the latest of disinvestments made by foreign investors in Indian lenders, with the last being made by Citigroup, which last month sold its entire 9.85 per cent stake in Housing Development Finance Corp for $1.9 billion. (See: Citigroup to sell entire stake in HDFC for around Rs10,353 crore: report).

Khazanah's unit Titiwangsa Investments Mauritius Ltd. sold the 14.7 million shares it held in Yes Bank at Rs365 each, raking in a premium of 150 per cent over the past five years. Credit Suisse was the sole bookrunner for the block deal.

''Yes, they have monetised their investment at a phenomenal premium of 150 per cent. They came on board in March 2007 and they sold their entire 4.2 per cent stake in us at Rs365 per share,'' said Rana Kapoor, Yes Bank founder and managing director.

Giving reasons for Khazanah selling its stake, Kapoor said that the Malaysian investment fund was keen to raise its stake in the bank to around 10 per cent, but since the Reserve Bank rules do not permit a single entity to own more than 5 per cent, it decided to monetise the investment at a very high premium.

Set up in 2004, Yes Bank has over 331 branches across 200 cities, with over 420 ATM's and 2 National Operating Centres in Mumbai and Gurgaon.

The Netherlands-based Rabobank is one of the leading foreign investors in the bank holding a 4.8 per cent stake.