V Vaidyanathan, Managing Director and CEO of IDFC First Bank, has sold 2.75 crore shares for about ₹58 crore and was planning to sell shares worth ₹35 crore on Friday, the private sector lender said in a regulatory filing on Friday.

The shares were sold to close the ESOP loan availed by him, it added. The further sale of shares will help Vaidyanathan entirely repay the residual ESOP loan taken for exercising his ESOP shares to release his pledged shares, the bank said.

“He has explained that with this sale he will have nil ESOP loan, and will not need to sell any more shares in the foreseeable future. He has also explained that the bank is doing wonderfully well on all counts and is on a great trajectory of performance on all parameters, and that he looks forward to continue to build the bank to great heights with the highest degree of corporate governance going forward as well,” the bank said.

After Thursday’s share-sale, Vaidyanathan still holds 4.23 crore or 0.88 per cent shares in the bank.

“The prices of the stock came down recently due to the coronavirus-related development in the stock market across all sectors, including banks, which resulted in margin call and, at this stage, I decided to sell the stock to entirely square the ESOP loans,” Vaidyanathan said in a letter to the bank’s compliance officer.

IDFC First Bank scrip hit a 52-week low of ₹18.60 in intra-day trade on the BSE. It later recovered partially and closed at a loss of 0.24 per cent at ₹20.60 apiece.

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