Kotak Mahindra Bank reduces promoter stake to comply with RBI norm

Kotak Mahindra Bank reduces promoter stake to comply with RBI norm

Mumbai: Uday Kotak, the founder, vice chairman and managing director of Kotak Mahindra Bank Ltd, on Friday reduced his stake in the lender to 40.3% from 43.58% to comply with a Reserve Bank of India (RBI) direction to do so, the bank said in an emailed statement.

The bank said Uday Kotak sold a part of the stake held in a trustee company called Kotak Trustee Co. Pvt. Ltd on Friday.

The entire 3.24% stake has been picked up by Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (Canada’s pension fund) through a block deal.

The directive was part of an ongoing move by RBI to reduce promoter holdings in private banks to make ownership more diverse.

On Tuesday, RBI had asked Kotak Mahindra Bank to cut its promoter holding to 40% by September 2014 from 43.58%.

Promoter holding has to be further cut to 30% by 31 December 2016, the bank had said.

At 12.13pm, Kotak Mahindra Bank shares were trading at Rs.863.60 on BSE, up 0.42% from their previous close, while India’s benchmark Sensex Index was up 0.05% to 24,246.34 points.