ING Group has sold its entire 3% stake in private sector lender Kotak Mahindra Bank.
As a result, ING’s nominee on the board of the lender has also resigned.
“Earlier today, ING Group sold its remaining stake in the bank. I hereby resign from my position as a director of the company with immediate effect,” Mark Newman, the ING nominee who was a a non-executive, non-independent director, told the Kotak board in a communication.
ING Mauritius Investments held about 3.06% stake, or 58,453,476 shares in Kotak Mahindra Bank, as of December 31, 2018.
In November 2014, the ING Group decided to merge its banking unit in India — ING Vysya Bank — with Kotak Mahindra Bank, in an all-stock deal.
After the transaction concluded, ING Group had 6.5% in the bank, which it started reducing gradually.
In the October-December period of 2018, the group had sold 1% stake in the bank.
Last year, ING Group, Netherlands’ largest financial services provider, was fined $900 million for failing to spot money laundering.
Kotak Mahindra Bank shares declined 3.7% on Friday to close at ₹1,241.05 on the BSE.
