Indian billionaire Uday Kotak aims to sell bank stock for $919 million

Uday Kotak is seeking to raise as much as 69.4 billion rupees ($919 million) in a share sale of Kotak Mahindra Bank Ltd. as the billionaire seeks to cut his ownership in the lender he founded to comply with central bank regulations.

Kotak is selling as many as 56 million shares of the bank for 1,215 rupees to 1,240 rupees each, according to terms of the deal seen by Bloomberg News. The price range represents a discount of 0.7 percent to 2.7 percent to the closing price on Monday. His holdings will reduce to 26.1 percent from 28.93 percent after the sale.

The disposal comes after a resolution in January of an unusual legal feud with the Reserve Bank of India over the pace at which Kotak, the bank’s founder and chief executive officer, should cut his stake in the lender. The two sides agreed that Kotak should lower his holding to 26 percent by August.

Kotak’s divestment also comes closely on the heel of the bank’s own equity raising of about 74.4 billion rupees to shore up capital against the coronavirus shock. Investors including Invesco Oppenheimer Developing Markets Fund, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board and ICICI Prudential Asset Management Co. participated in the sale, according to an exchange filing.

Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Kotak Securities Ltd. are the placement agents for Uday Kotak’s share sale, according to the terms.

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