Beena Parmar Moneycontrol News
Yes Bank’s second-largest shareholder Madhu Kapur will not give up her joint rights as a co-promoter on the bank’s board.
Sources said a joint promoter holding proposal if agreed upon, will allow Kapoor to nominate himself or one of his affiliates on the board of Yes bank even after his exit as MD and CEO.
The mid-sized private lender’s co-promoter Rana Kapoor, who is currently also the managing director and chief executive officer at the bank, has approached Madhu Kapur, wife of late co-founder Ashok Kapur, to resolve the family dispute that first emerged in public in 2013.
“Madhu Kapur will not give up her rights as a promoter…They (Kapur and her children) went to court because the promoters’ rights were unilaterally exercised (by Rana Kapoor), now we have got our joint rights legally, there is no way we will give that up,” according to sources close to Madhu Kapur.
The source added that Madhu Kapur, her son Gaurav Kapur and daughter Shagun Gogia have been wanting to have a conversation and resolve the issue.
Calls made and an email sent to Madhu Kapur and Yes Bank remain unanswered.
Rana Kapoor, who will cease to be the MD and CEO of Yes Bank from January 31, 2019, has in the past month, tried to make several attempts to resolve the dispute to arrive at a consensus to appoint a successor.
According to reports, Kapoor has approached Kapur and her daughter with a proposal to combine stakes and voting rights of the two promoters to form a joint single promoter group in order to avoid any legal hurdles on the appointment of a new chief of the bank.
“We don’t know how the joint promoter group can work...Our fight was for the rights, if that continues, we will resolve it…Our legal teams are meeting and all of this will take time. If there is a meeting of minds, then we can reach a consensus,” said one of the sources.
In June 2015, the Bombay High Court had ruled that both promoters must follow the articles of association and that Ashok Kapur's family can exercise its rights as his successors after he was killed in the 26/11 terrorist attack in Mumbai in 2008. The other side had challenged this judgment.
Both Kapur and the bank have challenged the ruling before a division bench.
Kapoor is hopeful that a joint promoter group will help both sides to name directors on the Yes Bank board without violating its knotty and contentious articles of association (AoA).
A Yes Bank official confirmed of about 3-4 meetings by Rana Kapoor in his personal capacity as the bank’s co-founder but the talks have remained non-conclusive.
Rana Kapoor’s wife and Madhu Kapur’s sister Bindu Kapoor was also present at most meetings.
On September 17, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) cut short Rana Kapoor’s term as the chief of Yes Bank from the proposed three months to five months up to January next year. The bank’s request seeking additional time till April and then September 2019 was also rejected by the banking regulator.
At present, Kapoor, also through his promoted entities, owns around 10.66 percent while Kapur, along with her associate firms, holds around 9.23 percent in Yes Bank. The combined holding of the promoter group will be around 20 percent.
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