Thai bank gets credit

Thai bank gets credit

SINGAPORE (AFP): The Overseas Union Bank (OUB) and AFC Merchant Bank joined forces under an agreement signed here yesterday to raise funds for the Thai Laem Thong Bank's largest offshore syndicated credit facility.

OUB, one of Singapore's largest banks, and AFC, owned by a group of ASEAN banks, will raise US$80 million from the international capital market for the facility, which would meet general funding requirements of the Thai bank.

Fourteen other international financial institutions are to participate in the facility, the second time OUB and AFC have worked together to raise funds for Laem Thong, one of Thailand's oldest commercial banks.

In May 1994, the two institutions raised $38 million through a syndicated credit facility that marked Laem Thong's first foray into the Singapore capital market.

Laem Thong Bank's president and chief executive Gurdist Chansrichwala and its executive director, Suchati Netisingha, were present at Friday's signing ceremony, an OUB news release said.