Uday Kotak trims stake in kotak Mahindra Bank to below 30 per cent

New Delhi:  Kotak Mahindra Bank's promoter Uday Kotak today sold 1.8 crore shares of the private sector lender for a little over Rs 1,687 crore, bringing down his stake to below 30 per cent to meet the RBI directive.

The shares were purchased by several entities, including Canadian pension fund -- Caisse de Depot et Placement du Quebec --  and Fidelity Funds. According to bulk deal data available with the BSE, Uday Kotak, Vice Chairman and Managing Director, sold a total of 1.8 crore shares, amounting to 0.95 per cent stake of the bank.

The shares were offloaded on an average price of Rs 937.35, valuing the transaction at Rs 1,687.23 crore, the data showed. Following the transaction, Kotak's personal stake in the bank declined to 29.79 per cent from 30.74 per cent.

Earlier in March, Kotak had sold 1.5 per cent shares of the private sector lender to two Canadian pension funds for an estimated Rs 2,255 crore through open market transactions.

The stake sale by Kotak is part of an effort to comply with RBI's directive. The lender has been asked by Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to bring down its promoter shareholding to 30 per cent by June 30, 2017.

Share of the bank today closed at Rs 941.30 on the BSE, down 0.42 per cent from the previous close.