Yes Bank CEO expects to raise up to $1.2bn

Bloomberg

Yes Bank Ltd Chief Executive Officer 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 eliminated an overhang on the lender’s stock.
Gill reiterated in an interview 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 jumped more than 20 percent 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 percent of Yes Bank’s market value.
“Overcoming the asset-quality issues and focussing on the bank’s retail deposit base will help it raise capital sooner than later,” said Jaikishan Parmar, an analyst with Angel Broking Ltd in Mumbai.
Kapoor, who co-founded 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 to stabilise operations, and has spent the past few months trying to raise capital.