Yes Bank raises Rs 1.82 bn in debt

Private sector lender Yes Bank said over the weekend it raised Rs 1.82 billion through private placement of bonds to augment its capital adequacy. The bank said in a statement it had placed unsecured, redeemable, non-convertible, subordinated bonds worth Rs 500 million with an option to retain the oversubscription.

The fund raising is part of a plan to raise Rs 8.4 billion in equity and debt. Yes Bank said it would privately place or sell 20 million shares to qualified institutional buyers to raise up to Rs 5 billion.The rest would be raised in Tier I and Tier II debt, it said.

Indian banks, including the largest lender State Bank of India, are raising debt and equity to sustain high loan growth and meet the central bank's capital adequacy norms.State-run State Bank of India plans to sell shares worth Rs 100 billion around the end of 2007 and Bank of India also plans to sell some stake.