AZB & Partners, S&R Associates and Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton have advised Dutch bank Rabobank in its divestment of 11 per cent equity in Yes Bank for around Rs 980 crore ($210m) to comply with the RBI’s (Reserve Bank of India) regulation as a prerequisite to attain a full commercial banking license in India.

AZB’s Ashwin Ramanathan was the partner in-charge on this deal for Rabobank, assisted by associates Vinay Kurien and Ananya Sharma.

S&R Associates partner Sandip Bhagat advised Citigroup Global Markets, which led the group of placement agents.

Cleary Gottlieb partner Sebastian Sperber advised Citigroup on non-Indian law aspects of the deal.

The transaction has reduced Rabo's shareholding in Yes Bank from 15.9 per cent to 4.9 per cent consequent to sell-out of about 37 million to institutional investors that included Life Insurance Corporation of India, Birla Mutual Fund, DSP Merrill Lynch Mutual Fund etc.

The banking norms stipulate that an existing foreign bank cannot own more than 5 per cent stake in another private bank.