Carlyle Group sells stake worth $173 million in India's Yes Bank

BENGALURU (Reuters) - U.S. private equity firm Carlyle Group sold a near 2% stake in Yes Bank worth 14.42 billion rupees ($173 million) in a bulk deal on Friday, exchange data showed.

Carlyle, which held a 9.11% stake in the lender via a special purpose vehicle - CA Basque Investments, sold 594 million shares at a price of 24.27 rupees per share.

The stake sale comes weeks after Carlyle boosted its holding in Yes Bank to 9.11% from 5.07% following the conversion of 1.28 billion warrants into shares. These convertible warrants were allotted to Carlyle in December 2022.

Carlyle had first picked up a near 10% stake in Yes Bank in 2022, as part of a $1.1 billion fundraise by the lender.

This is the second large stake sale by Carlyle in Yes Bank this year. In February, Carlyle had sold a stake of around 1.3%.

Shares of Yes Bank, up 16% so far this year, ended 2% lower on Friday.

($1 = 83.3820 Indian rupees)

(Reporting by Nishit Navin in Bengaluru; Editing by Arun Koyyur and Saumyadeb Chakrabarty)