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ICBC ready to acquire Thai bank
April-22-2010

The Chinese bank ICBC, the world's largest bank by market value, said Wednesday that it had obtained all the necessary governmental and regulatory approvals to complete the acquisition of all issued shares of Thailand's ACL Bank.

In a statement filed to Hong Kong Exchange, the Beijing-based bank said it acquired 1.546 billion ACL's ordinary shares and 282, 048 ACL preferred shares, which in combination accounted for 97.24 percent of the total issued shares of ACL.

Under the terms of the Voluntary Tender Offer, if ICBC has acquired 80 percent or more of the total issued shares of ACL, ICBC will implement the follow-up arrangements in respect of the delisting of ACL at the Thai stock exchange, said the statement.

ICBC said it would apply to the Stock Exchange of Thailand for its approval for the delisting of ACL subsequently.

The statement didn't disclose the cost of the acquisition. But ACL Bank said in March that ICBC would pay 18.29 billion Thai baht (about 545 million U.S. dollars) in the deal.