Yes Bank Shares Soared ~9% After SMBC Acquires 20% Stake for ₹14,000 Crore

On Monday, May 12, 2025, Yes Bank shares rallied as much as 9%, after Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation (SMBC), one of Japan’s largest financial institutions, announced the acquisition of a 20% stake in the Mumbai-based private lender. The stake was purchased from the State Bank of India (SBI) and a consortium of Indian banks that had stepped in to rescue Yes Bank during its 2020 crisis.

Stake from SBI, HDFC and Other Banks

SMBC is set to invest approximately ₹14,000 crore for this strategic stake, with 13% coming from SBI, India’s largest bank, and the remaining 7% from a group of private lenders including HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Axis Bank, IDFC First Bank, Federal Bank, and Bandhan Bank—all of whom are partially exiting the bank.

SBI alone is expected to earn over ₹9,000 crore (around $1 billion) from the sale, while the other banks will receive payouts ranging from ₹330 crore to ₹1,300 crore, depending on the size of their divestments.

The shares are being acquired at ₹21.5 apiece, representing a 7.5% premium over Yes Bank’s closing price last Friday. Notably, the stock had already surged 10% last week in anticipation of the deal, raising questions about how much of the news was already priced in by the market. As of Monday, Yes Bank shares were trading 8.5% higher at ₹21.7, slightly above the deal price.

Among other significant stakeholders, Vervanta Holdings Ltd. holds a 9.2% stake, and CA Basque Investments owns 6.84%. Neither is participating in the current sale.

Yes Bank Q4FY25 Highlights

At the end of Q4 FY25, Yes Bank had nearly 62 lakh retail shareholders—each with investments up to ₹2 lakh—collectively holding a 22.55% stake in the lender. The bank continues to operate without a promoter, after the Reserve Bank of India declined to extend the tenure of founder and former CEO Rana Kapoor in 2019.

Also Read: What is the History of Yes Bank?

Commenting on the results and financial performance, Mr. Prashant Kumar, Managing Director & CEO, YES BANK said, “The Q4FY25 marked yet another important quarter for YES BANK as it continued to make steady improvements across several key metrics and progressed well on the strategic objective of improving its profitability. 

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