Uday Kotak reduces stake share in Kotak Mahindra Banks, sells 2.8% stake for Rs 6,900 crore

Asia’s richest banker Uday Kotak traded off 56 million shares, or 2.8 percent stake, for more than Rs 6,900 crore via block deals on Tuesday in a bid to reduce his stake in Kotak Mahindra Bank to 26.1 percent in a move to comply with Reserve Bank of India (RBI) regulations.

The buyers are a group of international and domestic investors namely Fidelity Funds South East Asia, Invesco Oppenheimer, Goldman Sachs India, JP Morgan, UBS, Regents of University of California, Aberdeen, Capital Group, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB), Societe Generale, SBI Mutual Fund, Birla MF, Axis MF and ICICI Prudential Life Insurance, according to a BSE filing by Kotak Mahindra Bank. Sovereign wealth funds of Singapore (GIC), Kuwait (Kuwait Investment Authority) and Abu Dhabi (Abu Dhabi Investment Authority) also invested, it said. Invesco Oppenheimer already holds a 2.86 percent stake while Capital World has 1.9 percent. SBI MF holds a stake of 2.56 percent and CPPIB holds 6.2 percent.

By selling his stake, Uday Kotak collected an estimated $918 million (Rs 6,912 crore) via such deals, reported ET quoting sources.

The price band was initially estimated at Rs 1,215-1,240 apiece. The billionaire banker is said to have traded off the shares at the higher end of that band, dealers said reported ET.

The placement agents for concluding the deal were Morgan Stanley, Kotak Securities, and Goldman Sachs (India) Securities.

In January, the banking regulator RBI had permitted Kotak to hold a 26 percent stake in Kotak Mahindra Bank as long as it didn’t raise capital through a share sale. The promoter’s voting rights were also restricted to 15 percent from April. Besides, Uday Kotak is not allowed to level-up his stake if it drops below 26 percent. He has time until September to bring down his holding by another 0.1 percent in the bank to fully adhere with the RBI rules.