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Published on September 20, 2007

"With the bank's internal conduct for the deal completed, we now have ACL's new shareholders on our mind. And the selling price has also been concluded," managing director Singh Tangtatswas said yesterday.

One of the two foreign banks - the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC), the largest on the mainland; and CIMB Bank, Malaysia's second largest by assets - in talks with Bangkok Bank had earlier agreed to purchase 19 per cent of ACL Bank shares. Singh declined to identify which one.

Singh said the remaining process depended on consideration by the authorities. The potential buyer of the ACL Bank shares wants the entire 19 per cent from Bangkok Bank.

The investor hopes to have management control in ACL Bank, while the seller would receive a better price by selling shares in big lots, he said.

To comply with the central bank's regulation governing the one-presence principle, Bangkok Bank had to reduce its stake in ACL Bank from 19 per cent to 10 per cent by the end of this past June and to zero by the end of the year. Meanwhile, regulations stipulate that a foreign bank wanting to own more than 5 per cent of any Thai bank needs Finance Ministry approval.

In accordance with an earlier schedule, Thailand's largest bank asked the central bank to extend the deadline for the share sell, but the request was refused. As a result, Bangkok Bank will be fined for failing to sell off 9 per cent in ACL Bank by June.

Meanwhile, Singh said the bank was not worried that Government of Singapore Investment (GIC) had divested its Bangkok Bank shares and the bank remained confident of its strong position. GIC held 13.5 million shares until selling them in April.

He said GIC was possibly seeking other markets that provided higher returns on investment, which he called normal practice for investment funds.

"We're not worried about GIC's investment withdrawal, because it won't affect our share price. And the bank does not need to conduct any roadshows to build up foreign investors' confidence, because our position is strong enough," he said.

Somruedi  Banchongduang

 The Nation