Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC), the world's biggest lender by market value, is poised to buy a stake in Thailand's ACL bank from the country's Ministry of Finance, a Thailand newspaper said on Monday.

The Chinese bank will pay THB8 (US$0.23) per share, and spend another THB6 billion (US$1.38 billion) to buy from other shareholders, the report said, without mentioning the specific amount of shares the bank plans to buy.

Though ICBC declined to comment on the report, there have long been rumors that the Chinese bank was eyeing the ACL bank, a Bangkok-based small lender, which made a net profit of US$22.3 million in the first quarter of 2009.

Khao Hoon, a local newspaper in Thailand, reported last month that ICBC was likely to buy the 30 percent stake held by Thailand's Ministry of Finance in ACL bank, at a price that was twice its current share price.

As early as in 2007, ICBC was reportedly under negotiations with Bangkok Bank, another Thai lender, to buy the 19.3 percent stake the latter held in ACL bank. The Thai government prohibits domestic banks from holding more than 10 percent stake in another local bank.

The sale, which was widely expected to be settled by the end of 2007, was postponed by Bangkok Bank until the promulgation of the country's new commercial law, which raised the stake foreign funded enterprises could hold in Thailand banks to 49 percent from 25 percent earlier.

The new law came into effect in February this year. If ICBC succeeds in the two deals as the reports said, the amount of shares it will hold would just match the new ceiling of 49 percent.

Analysts said ICBC's stake purchase in ACL would help the bank tap into the Thai market, as the Chinese bank is showing a keen interest to expand its presence in emerging markets.

With the financial market starting to stabilize, big Chinese lenders are likely to step up their efforts to seek M&A opportunities overseas. Indonesia and India could be the next target markets, the UBS said.

Jiang Jianqing, president of ICBC, told an investor conference earlier that the bank would seek overseas expansion at the right time and focus its overseas acquisition strategy on emerging markets and Asia. ICBC now owns 20 percent of South Africa's Standard Bank, Africa's biggest lender.

(China Daily June 3, 2009)