Vijay Shekhar Sharma-led One92 Communications, which runs Paytm, is reportedly in talks with Rana Kapoor to pick up his stake in Yes Bank. Rana Kapoor is likely to sell his and his family’s stake in the bank he co-founded for about Rs 1,800-2,000 crore, as per a Moneycontrol report.
However, these talks are only in exploratory stages and various possible methods are being discussed including infusion of fresh capital. It is also being discussed if Vijay will invest in his personal capacity of if Paytm will do it as part of a consortium, an ET report states.
Currently, RBI norms state that any acquisition of shareholding/voting rights of 5% or more will be subject to obtaining prior approval from the RBI. Since Vijay is already the owner of Paytm Payments Bank, the deal will also have to receive a regulatory nod from Reserve Bank of India (RBI).
Rana Kapoor, his family, and the investment firms they control (Yes Capital and Morgan Credits) own 9.64% stake in Yes Bank and as per the Moneycontrol report, this entire shareholding is worth about Rs 1,550 crore.
Rana Kapoor had earlier pledged his entire stake in the bank and in Morgan Credits to raise Rs 1,500 crore from Nippon Life Asset Management. While 30% of this amount has been paid back, Kapoor reportedly wants to sell the unpledged shares of Yes Capital, pay Nippon Life back and keep whatever he makes on top of it.
While the deal is far from being finalised, it if goes through, it will be the exit of Rana Kapoor from banking. He was ousted as the CEO and MD of Yes Bank in September last year by RBI due to governance lapses and compliance issues.
Interestingly, after relinquishing the MD and CEO position, Rana Kapoor tweeted last year that he will ‘never ever’ sell his Yes Bank shares.
“I will eventually bequeath my Yes Bank Promoter shares to my 3 daughters and subsequently to their children, with a request in my Will stating not to sell a single share, as Diamonds are Forever!!” he tweeted.
According to the ET report, acquiring a stake in Yes Bank will allow Paytm to offer lending services to the customers of its payments bank. And while a payments bank does not allow deposits of over Rs 1 lakh, having a stake in Yes Bank could help it do so.