<p>The Bombay High Court, in an oral pronouncement on Friday, quashed the write-off of additional Tier-1 (AT1) bonds issued by Yes Bank Ltd, said legal sources with direct knowledge of the matter.</p>.<p>The final order is yet to be uploaded on the court website and the bank can choose to appeal in Supreme Court.</p>.<p>The bonds were written off as part of a restructuring plan to rescue Yes Bank in March 2020. Equity holders, on the other hand, did not face a similar write-down, but 75% of their shares were subject to a lock-in for three years.</p>.<p>Additional Tier-1 bonds are high-yield securities that typically have loss-absorbing features, meaning they can be written down if a lender's capital falls below a crucial level.</p>.<p>This feature was invoked in the case of Yes Bank.</p>.<p>However, the court offered relief to bondholders with exposure of 84.5 billion rupees ($1.04 billion) to these bonds.</p>.<p>Individual and institutional bondholders had filed several petitions in the Court, arguing that the bonds were mis-sold and could not be written off when equity was not.</p>.<p>"The Bombay High Court had allowed the bondholders' petition against the write-off and the decision to write off the AT1 bonds has been quashed," said Srijan Sinha, an advocate who appeared on behalf of the association of individual bondholders.</p>.<p>"The Court has granted Yes Bank 6 weeks to implement the order," said Sinha.</p>.<p>Yes Bank did not immediately offer comments on the order. An email sent to RBI was not answered immediately.</p>
<p>The Bombay High Court, in an oral pronouncement on Friday, quashed the write-off of additional Tier-1 (AT1) bonds issued by Yes Bank Ltd, said legal sources with direct knowledge of the matter.</p>.<p>The final order is yet to be uploaded on the court website and the bank can choose to appeal in Supreme Court.</p>.<p>The bonds were written off as part of a restructuring plan to rescue Yes Bank in March 2020. Equity holders, on the other hand, did not face a similar write-down, but 75% of their shares were subject to a lock-in for three years.</p>.<p>Additional Tier-1 bonds are high-yield securities that typically have loss-absorbing features, meaning they can be written down if a lender's capital falls below a crucial level.</p>.<p>This feature was invoked in the case of Yes Bank.</p>.<p>However, the court offered relief to bondholders with exposure of 84.5 billion rupees ($1.04 billion) to these bonds.</p>.<p>Individual and institutional bondholders had filed several petitions in the Court, arguing that the bonds were mis-sold and could not be written off when equity was not.</p>.<p>"The Bombay High Court had allowed the bondholders' petition against the write-off and the decision to write off the AT1 bonds has been quashed," said Srijan Sinha, an advocate who appeared on behalf of the association of individual bondholders.</p>.<p>"The Court has granted Yes Bank 6 weeks to implement the order," said Sinha.</p>.<p>Yes Bank did not immediately offer comments on the order. An email sent to RBI was not answered immediately.</p>