Private equity giants, Carlyle and Advent International have announced their plans to acquire a 10% stake in YES Bank, one of India’s largest private sector banks, as part of a $1.1 billion capital raise.
YES Bank is a leader in India’s digital payments space, and the raise will be allocated toward meeting the bank’s medium to long-term growth objectives. Managing partner at Advent, Ms Shweta Jalan, explained that the PE firm believes India’s banking sector is at an inflection point where tech-enabled banks like YES Bank have an advantage.
“This investment also demonstrates our commitment to the country’s banking and financial services industry, which is the core of India’s growth story. We think the Bank’s leadership team, led by Prashant Kumar, has done great work in reviving its performance over the last two years.”
An announcement from Carlyle published on the 29th of July, states that Carlyle is looking to draw on its well-established experience in the financial services sector in India and across Asia to support YES BANK in further growing its retail and transaction banking, and digital payments platforms. Carlyle will have one nominee on the Bank’s Board following the transaction.
Mr. Sunil Kaul, Managing Director and Financial Services sector lead for Carlyle in Asia, commented: “We are confident about India’s long-term economic growth prospects and believe that YES BANK is well-placed to capture this growth, given its strong capabilities in transaction banking and digital payments.
“YES Bank’s leadership team, led by CEO Prashant Kumar and under the direction of its Board, has done really well in steering the Bank through challenging times, and the Bank is now well-positioned for the next phase of growth. We are excited to leverage our financial services sector experience to be a value-add partner to the Bank as it continues to drive sustained growth, scale its franchise, and focus on investing in its people and leadership team.”
The transaction remains subject to regulatory and shareholder approval.