Cerberus Capital leads race for stake in Yes Bank's bad loans unit – Mint

Cerberus Capital Management LP is leading the competition to acquire a majority stake in Yes Bank Ltd.'s planned asset reconstruction company, Mint reported, citing two people directly aware of the development.

The American private equity firm is targeting 550 billion Indian rupees of bad loans from the lender as part of the transaction. The unnamed sources added Cerberus intends to transfer the loans to a jointly sponsored asset reconstruction company.

Cerberus Capital Management is also believed to be targeting a controlling stake in Blackstone Inc.'s International Asset Reconstruction Co., which also lists HDFC Bank Ltd., ICICI Bank Ltd. and Tata Capital Ltd. as shareholders.

The firm was earlier reported to be competing with J.C. Flowers & Co. LLC for a slice of the Yes Bank unit. Additional competition is expected from players like Edelweiss and SSG via the Swiss challenge method.

As of Feb. 9, US$1 was equivalent to 74.83 Indian rupees.