ABN acquires Thai bank

ABN acquires Thai bank

BANGKOK (Dow Jones): Netherlands' ABN Amro Holding NV (AAN) officially confirmed its purchase of a 75 percent stake in Thailand's Bank of Asia PCL (H.BKA) Thursday, saying it wanted to turn the bank into one of the country's top commercial lenders.

Sergio Rial, chief executive of ABN Amro Asia-Pacific, said the Dutch bank's involvement with Bank of Asia would make it easier to raise cheap international credit and capture a larger share of Thailand's trade financing market.

"We feel we are going to be able to turn Bank of Asia into profit very soon," Rial said.

Bank of Asia posted first half net losses of 5.44 billion baht (THB) this year, against a net profit of 846.5 million baht in the year-ago period. The bank said the losses were due mostly to provisioning of THB4.95 billion on problem loans.

Rial said non-performing loans would not get any worse and, with an easier interest rate environment in Thailand, he expected Bank of Asia to extend its lending to the country's cash-starved industries.