BOCHK completes acquisition of share capital of BOC Thailand
BOC HONG KONG (Holdings) yesterday announced that with respect to the asset restructuring of the Bank of China Group in the Asean region, all of the conditions precedent set out in the Bank of China (Thailand) share purchase agreement had been satisfied.
The proposed share acquisition will be completed on Monday in accordance with the terms and conditions of the Thailand share purchase agreement.
“Following the acquisition of Bank of China (Malaysia) Berhad and the opening of a branch in Brunei, Bank of China (Hong Kong) is expanding its presence in Southeast Asia by acquiring BOC Thailand,” said Yue Yi, vice chairman and chief executive of BOC Hong Kong (Holdings). “It marks a new step forward in implementing BOC Group’s overseas development strategy and speeding up BOCHK’s transformation into a regional bank.
“Leveraging BOCHK’s well-developed financial-product platform, professional expertise and resources, we will adopt a regional management approach in fostering collaboration among the institutions in Southeast Asia and enhancing BOC Group’s business strength and market competitiveness in the region.
“This will help us better capture opportunities arising from national strategies such as the ‘Belt and Road Initiative’, RMB [yuan] internationalisation and mainland [China] enterprises going global, and further develop our business in Hong Kong and the Southeast Asian region.
“As the second-largest economy in Southeast Asia with enormous development potential, Thailand is one of the important regions in BOC Group’s strategic development plan. In recent years, the [Thai] government has introduced a number of measures to promote its economic development and attract overseas investment.
“BOC Thailand has been planting its roots in Thailand for over two decades. It will continue to capitalise on BOC Group’s abundant customer resources and diversified financial product and service platform to help more mainland [Chinese] enterprises going global invest in Thailand.
“In addition, it will enhance its services to better serve local enterprises, institutions and personal customers, and provide premium financial services and support to the economic and trade development between China and Thailand, as well as Thailand’s economy.”
As the first Chinese bank operating in Thailand, Bank of China established its representative office in Bangkok in 1994. It was upgraded to a branch, and then transformed to a subsidiary.
Upon completion of this deal, BOC Thailand will become an indirect wholly owned subsidiary of BOC Hong Kong (Holdings), and the assets, liabilities and financial results of BOC Thailand will be consolidated into the financial accounts of BOC Hong Kong (Holdings).
