Thanachart Bank (TBank) has built up its stake in Siam City Bank (SCIB) to 99.24 per cent following the completion of its tender offer on Wednesday.
Somjet Moosirilert, CEO of SCIB and senior executive vice president of TBank, said the boards of both banks had agreed to delist SCIB from the Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET).
An extraordinary shareholders' meeting is scheduled for August 5 following a presentation to the shareholders on July 29. If they and the SET approve, TBank will launch another tender offer for the remaining shares in September and November.
The latest tender offer started on April 29 after TBank, with the support of its shareholder, Canada's Nova Scotia Bank, paid Bt32 billion to the Financial Institutions Development Fund for a 47.58-per-cent stake in SCIB.
"This is in line with the shareholding structure at SCIB, because TBank became the biggest shareholder after the tender offer. The major shareholder now wants to delist SCIB and then merge SCIB's business into TBank. Once the transaction is complete, SCIB will be liquidated and its banking license returned to the Bank of Thailand," Somjet said in a press statement.
SCIB's delisting is also compulsory, given it cannot meet the SET's listing requirement that a listed company have at least 150 minor shareholders holding at least 15 per cent of paid-up capital.
Somjet said SCIB's fundamentals remained strong and that there was no need to raise funds through the SET.
SCIB shares fell 25 satang yesterday, ending the day at Bt31.75.