New Delhi, Mar 11 :
A deal with some bondholders of Yes Bank who have opposed a state-led rescue is being discussed, the bank’s administrator said on March 11, a move that could clear the way for a restructuring of the troubled lender.
“We are in the process,” Prashant Kumar, the administrator said, adding he hoped a deal would be reached later on March 11 or 12.
Under the terms of India’s rescue plan, set out earlier this month, the State Bank of India would take a 49% stake in Yes Bank, which is struggling with bad loans.
But some Yes Bank bondholders filed a court petition against the rescue deal, which would see them taking a write-down, according to a source and a document.
TV channel ET Now reported on March 11 that the bondholders had proposed to convert 85 billion Indian rupees ($1.15 billion) worth of bonds into 17 billion rupees in equity, citing unnamed sources.
Axis Trustee Services Ltd, which represents several investors in so-called AT1 bonds issued by Yes Bank, did not immediately respond to a request for comment. India’s central bank, the Reserve Bank of India, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The bondholders’ petition was set to be heard in court on March 11 but the case did not appear on a Bombay High Court schedule.
Yes Bank’s founder and former managing director, Rana Kapoor, was also due to appear in court on March 11. Kapoor, who was arrested on Sunday and remanded until March 11, faces charges of money-laundering.
He denies wrongdoing and his lawyer said he had been made into “a scapegoat” due to public resentment at Yes Bank after the central bank imposed limits on withdrawals.
