Bidders' insistence on 51% stake in Yes Bank may jeopardise stake buy

Bidders' insistence on having a 51 per cent stake in Yes Bank may end up jeopardising the stake buy, an informed source said on Thursday.

When asked on whether the deal will go through by the end of this fiscal, the source, who is not authorised to speak to the media, said the deal itself is in a quandary.

As per the source, the talks on any deal "are not going anywhere" because of all the bidders' push on the 51 per cent stake.

The source explained that the RBI is uncomfortable with a foreign entity owning a 51 per cent stake in a big entity like Yes Bank.

There are reports of two bidders being in the fray including Japan's SMBC and Emirates NBD.

The suitors are directly speaking with RBI, but the central bank is not amenable on giving the ownership control.

At present, the regulations allow for a maximum of 26 per cent stake by an entity in a bank and in cases where it is higher, has set a fixed timeline for getting it down.

As per the source, there has been no progress on the