ICBC may buy into Thai bank

Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC), the world's biggest lender by market value, is poised to buy a stake in Thailand's ACL bank from the country's Ministry of Finance, a Thailand newspaper said on Monday.

The Chinese bank will pay THB8 ($0.23) per share, and spend another THB6 billion ($1.38 billion) to buy from other shareholders, the report said, without mentioning the specific amount of shares the bank plans to buy.

Though ICBC declined to comment on the report, there have long been rumors that the Chinese bank was eyeing the ACL bank, a Bangkok-based small lender, which made a net profit of $22.3 million in the first quarter of 2009.