Yes Bank director election drama in suspense

The contentious appointment of three directors to the board of Yes Bank is in suspense with it going to ballot at the shareholders meet, whose result will be declared on Monday.

But it is believed that the voting strength is in favour of the appointment will ensure that Diwan Arun Nanda, Ravish Chopra and MR Srinivasan. Although promoters' voting rights are capped at 10%, the presence of a lot of staff and shareholders loyal to the management might have voted in favour of the appointments.

Even as results are awaited there are murmurs that there are disputes about the way it is proceeding which may lead to the outcome getting challenged in the court.

Reacting to these murmurs M.R. Srinivasan, chairman, YES Bank said,"The voting process and the subsequent counting process; is proceeding in the fullest conformity with the instructions of the Chairman of the Meeting, and in consonance with the General meeting guidelines as contained in the Articles of Association. The ongoing counting process is being conducted by the two appointed scrutineers and Karvy - the Registrar of YES BANK. On a request from Mrs. Madhu Kapur, as a special case the Chairman has permitted the presence of her authorized representative - Mrs. Shagun Gogia to be an observer of the complete process, to provide necessary comfort."

"YES BANK being a Public Trust institution, kindly ensure that there is responsible reporting on the subject," he said.

Rana Kapoor did not comment on the matter and the media was barred from covering the shareholders'event.

``They want their right to nominate a director on the board. Madhu Kapur is not in favour of the appointment of directors so she demanded a poll,'' said one of the proxis of Madhu Kapur, wife of the last Ashok Kapur, the co-founder of Yes Bank. ``Few of the other shareholders also asked for a poll.''

The appointment of three directors is sought to be stalled by the Kapur family demanding consultations as provided in the Articles of Associations of the bank. The representatives of Kapur allege that the other founder and Chief Executive of the bank Rana Kapoor is not consulting them on appointments.

``Ashok Kapur, like Rana Kapoor, is termed as an Indian partner in the bank documents,'' said an associate of Kapur at the venue of the shareholders' meet but did not want to be identified by name. ``The articles of association gives Ashok Kapur family equal right on appointment of directors.''

Two shareholders questioned the CEO Kapoor on the ongoing family dispute, but there was no answer, said a shareholder.

Source: economictimes