HONG LEONG, MAYBANK, BOUSTEAD

HSBC Holdings plc, Bank of Nova Scotia and Hong Leong Bank Bhd (HLBK MK, HOLD, TP: RM 8.71) are amongbidders for a stake in Siam City Bank Pcl. Thailand’s central bank is seeking about US$1bn (RM3.4bn) for its 47.6% stake,people with knowledge of the matter said last month. Thailand, wracked by violent political protests in the past two year, iseasing restrictions on foreign ownership of banks to encourage investment and boost competition in the financial industry.Yvonne Chia, managing director of Hong Leong Bank, didn’t respond to an email regarding the bid (Financial Daily)

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Malayan Banking Bhd (MAY MK, Buy, TP: RM8.10) will raise its stake in Vietnam’s An Binh Bank to 20% from 15%, theVietnamese lender said yesterday. An Binh Bank will sell 17.8m shares today for 20,000 dong each. The share sale wouldraise its registered capital by 22% to 3.48trn dong (RM638.3m). (Financial Daily)

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Boustead Holdings Bhd (BOUS MK, SELL, TP: RM3.05) has terminated a sale and subscription agreement to acquire a51% stake in Atlas Hall Sdn Bhd for RM8m and came up with a new agreement to acquire the stake at half the price. Ina statement to Bursa Malaysia, it said it would buy 400,000 shares, equivalent to a 20% stake in Atlas Hall from Tan Sri AbdulRashid Abdul Manaf for RM1.41m and subscribe to 1.27m new shares in the company for RM2.67m, or RM2.11 apiece,representing a share premium of RM1.11. It said the amount it would now pay for the acquisition, amounted to RM4.08m.(Financial Daily)* *