CIMB buys 70% of Thai stockbroking firm

KUALA LUMPUR: CIMB Group Holdings is acquiring a 70% stake in SICCO Securities Public Company Ltd (SSEC) from the Siam Industrial Credit Public Company Limited (SICCO) for RM78.43 million cash.

In a statement Thursday, Sept 29, CIMB said it had entered into a conditional share sale and purchase agreement with SICCO to acquire SSEC.

It said SSEC was a publicly listed stockbroking company with 13 branches in Thailand and employed 269 staff.

CIMB said the acquisition would be undertaken via its wholly-owned indirect subsidiary, CIMB Securities International Pte Ltd (CSI).

The banking group said that under Thai laws, upon completion of the proposed acquisition, CSI would be required to conduct a mandatory tender offer to acquire all the remaining shares in SSEC that it did not already own.

CIMB Investment Bank chief executive officer designate Datuk Charon Wardini Mokhzani said the acquisition strengthened CIMB’s broking platform on the Stock Exchange of Thailand.

“We are consistently among the top 3 brokers in Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia, and aim to be in a leading position in Thailand in the next few years.

“This acquisition is expected to at least double our market share and take us further towards our target of being among the top 5 players in the Thai securities market. We will also look for opportunities for synergies between this new platform and CIMB Thai Bank Plc,” he said.