Mumbai: Yes Bank’s senior group President Rajat Monga who was with the company since its inception in 2004 resigned on Thursday.
The resignation came as CEO Ravneet Gill said he expects to complete raising as much as $1.2 billion “much sooner than the market expects,” after sales of pledged shares this week eliminated an overhang on the lender’s stock.
Gill reiterated in an interview on Thursday his target of selling $1 billion to $1.2 billion of new shares to private equity investors, technology companies and family offices. He declined to be more specific on the timing for completing a deal.
“Ideally we would like to do this in one shot,” Gill said. “I think every stakeholder of the bank is of the same view that we should get as much capital as we need.”
Yes Bank’s shares jumped as much as 29 per cent earlier in the day after Gill held a call with analysts to reassure them that the forced sale of founder Rana Kapoor’s pledged stake was the main reason why the stock had tumbled in the previous two sessions. Even after the recovery, the amount of capital Gill is seeking is equivalent to as much as 86 per cent of Yes Bank’s market value.
Kapoor, who cofounded Yes Bank in 2003, and built it into India’s fastest-growing lender, was forced out by the central bank amid a dispute over its reporting of bad debts. Gill was brought in from Deutsche Bank AG in March to stabilise operations, and has spent the past few months trying to raise capital. Even after Thursday’s surge, the stock is down almost 80 per cent this year.
