HSBC to offload stakes in India's Axis Bank, Yes Bank

HSBC is on course to offload its entire 4.8% stake in Indian private banking major Axis Bank and its 4.8% stake in Yes Bank.

It has a little more than 1.9 crore shares of Axis Bank bank at a price range between Rs 951 and Rs 971 per share and nearly 1.7 crore shares in Yes Bank at a price between Rs 318 and Rs 325 per share. 

HSBC's sale of shares in Axis Bank and Yes Bank are part of its strategy to divest stakes in banks and other companies.

Its stakes in both the Indian banks are held through one of UK bank's investment arms, HSBC IRIS Investments Mauritius.

The stake sale in Axis Bank will bring the curtains down on the British bank's once ambitious move of taking a controlling stake in it.

If the deal goes through, these would be the fifth and sixth large deal in the banking and financial services space in the last six months. Earlier this year, Citigroup sold its stake in housing finance major HDFC for nearly Rs 10,000 crore or $1.9 billion, while US private equity major Warburg Pincus offloaded its stake in Kotak Mahindra Bank for about Rs 1,350 crore or $274 million  and Singapore government arm Temasek sold a 1.4% stake in ICICI Bank for nearly Rs 1,500 crore.

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