President Anusorn Sangnimnuan said Bangchak would sell 120 million shares and convertible debentures to PTT at Bt14 apiece, which will raise PTT's stake in the refining company from 7.7 per cent to 25.3 per cent.

PTT will provide crude oil for Bangchak's Bangkok refinery to help lower production and transportation costs, while it will buy refined oil when the PQI project is completed. Bangchak will then borrow $200 million from the three banks, and raise $50 million-$55 million by selling shares to institutional investors. Book-building  begins early next month.

Banks can deal in currency repos

The Bank of Thailand has relaxed its regulations in a bid to bolster liquidity in the bond market and enhance banks' risk-management capability.

Commercial banks can now borrow in various currencies in the private repurchase market - called the cross-currency private repo market, the central bank said in a statement.

For example, banks can borrow baht with foreign-currency-denominated bonds as collateral in the private repo market. Or they can borrow in a foreign currency with baht bonds as collateral.

The relaxation will cover only commercial banks, while retail banks are allowed to borrow and lend only in baht.

Commercial banks are also allowed to strike deals with mutual funds, provident funds and private funds in the repo market, but only for baht transactions.

The central bank is also allowing banks to be agents for short-sale transaction of units issued by mutual funds, besides equity and debt instruments.