YES Bank shares soar on investment prospect

Shares of YES Bank on Wednesday gained 13.5% on the BSE to close the day at ₹71.6 on reports of stake sale by co-founder Rana Kapoor. In intra-day, the bank’s shares soared to the day’s high of ₹72.55—an increase of 15% from the previous trading day’s closing price of ₹63.1 a share on Monday.

Due to regulator-pushed top-level management changes and audit revelations from the Reserve Bank of India, the YES Bank stock touched a 52–week low of ₹53.1 on August 22. A year ago it was trading at a 52–week high of ₹328.95.

YES Bank, ranked 61 on the list of Fortune India 500 companies last year, has been facing a tough time lately because of issues like higher provisioning, increasing non-performing assets (NPAs), falling profits, and credit rating downgrades.

Chief executive and managing director Ravneet Gill, who took charge in March, has quite a task on hand. The biggest of all is fundraising for the bank.

On Monday, a report from online business news website MoneyControl said YES Bank’s co-founder Rana Kapoor is in talks with Paytm founder Vijay Shekar Sharma to sell his 9.67% stake for around ₹2,000 crore.

"The bank in the usual and ordinary course of its business continues to explore various means of raising capital/funds through issuance of securities to a diverse set of investors, in order to meet its business/ regulatory requirements, subject to compliance with prescribed procedures and receipt of statutory/regulatory approvals," said YES Bank in a statement.

While the bank is in constant interaction with prospective investors, the last two days saw 27 such investor meetings—26 in Hong Kong, while one meeting happened in Mumbai. Speculations are rife that the bank is on the verge of seeing equity infusion.