Tpg to sell its stake in bankthai

"CIMB has a proven track record of successful banking investments in Southeast Asia, and TPG believes that they will be a strong and supportive shareholder for BankThai," TPG said in a statement released on Monday.

TPG said it believes that the Thai bank will best realise its prospects by having one controlling, strategic shareholder drive its future strategy.

The Malaysian bank took over a 42.13-per-cent stake in BankThai from the Financial Institutions Development Fund of the Bank of Thailand, which triggered a mandatory public tender offer.

On November 3, Bumiputra Commerce (BCHB) reported that an affiliate of TPG Capital, TPG Malaysia Finance, had entered into an agreement to subscribe to two-year senior unsecured bonds to be issued by CIMB Bank (L), a 99.999-per cent-owned indirect subsidiary of BCHB, and non-detachable warrants to be issued by BCHB.

The bond/warrant investment will not proceed unless the BankThai tender offer is successfully completed. The investment also remains subject to shareholder and regulatory approvals.

TPG Capital is the global buy-out group of TPG, a private investment firm founded in 1992 with more than US$55 billion (Bt2 trillion) of assets under management.

TPG maintains offices in San Francisco, London, Hong Kong, New York, Fort Worth, Menlo Park, Washington DC, Melbourne, Moscow, Mumbai, Paris, Luxembourg, Beijing, Shanghai, Singapore and Tokyo.