ACL Bank has gotten an approval from the finance minister to sell the majority of its stake to China’s ICBC at 10 baht per share, a news source involved in the banking industry reported.

The source said the minister wants the deal to close in 2 to 3 months or sooner.

He said the finance ministry also put Siam City Bank Plc (SCRIB) up for sale at around 29-30 baht a share, or 1.5 times its book value of 19.42 baht.

Thanachart Bank remains the most potential bidder to acquire SCRIB.

“The Bank of Thailand’s Financial Institution Fund (FIDF) is hiring Patra Security Plc as a financial advisor to evaluate a 47.58 percent stake value it hold in SCRIB,” the source said.

KGI Securities (Thailand) analyzed that it would cost around 19.7 to 20.0 billion baht to acquire the entire 47.58 percent stake from the FIDF.

“If the buyer would like to acquire a complete 100 percent stake in the company, they would spend another 22.8 to 24.0 billion baht on tender offer to individual investors,” the brokerage firm said.