TMB Chooses ING Bank as its strategic partner

This will make ING Bank the new major shareholder of the country's six largest bank, while TMB would get Bt38 billion of fresh capital from the recapitalisation rather than Bt35 billion as expected previously.

TMB said its decision was made after comparing between the proposal of ING Bank and the other proposal of a group of institutional investor in various aspects such as the highest financial and business benefits to be received by the bank and shareholders.

The bank said its board of directors has opined that the proposal of ING Bank NV provides higher benefits to the bank and its shareholders. Thus, the Thai bank's board approves the proposal of and chooses ING Bank NV as a new strategic partner of the bank.

On Wednesday, it was reported that DBS Group has joined Deutsche Bank to bid for TMB's capital increase shares by offering subscription price of Bt1.6 per share, higher than Bt1.4 earlier proposed by ING Bank.

After the announcement on Thursday, the Stock Exchange of Thailand has approved TMB stock to resume trading after suspension from Wednesday. The stock was closed on Tuesday at Bt1.58. - The Nation