Corporate
HSBC, Bank of Nova Scotia Said to Bid for Thailand’s Siam City
HSBC Holdings Plc, Bank of Nova Scotia and Hong Leong Bank Bhd. are among bidders for a stake in Siam City Bank Pcl, Thailand’s seventh-biggest lender by assets, four people familiar with the matter said.
Bank of Nova Scotia made the offer together with its local affiliate Thanachart Bank Pcl, which owns 4.9 percent of Siam City Bank, the people said, declining to be identified as the talks are private. Thailand’s central bank is seeking about $1 billion for its 47.6 percent stake, people with knowledge of the matter said last month.
Thailand, wracked by violent political protests in the past two years, is easing restrictions on foreign ownership of banks to encourage investment and boost competition in the financial industry. Siam City Bank’s higher cost of funding puts it at a disadvantage to larger local rivals, said Anne Jirajariyavech, an analyst at JPMorgan Chase & Co. in Bangkok.
via HSBC, Bank of Nova Scotia Said to Bid for Thailand’s Siam City – Bloomberg.com.
Corporate
The environmental case for remote working
Anyone searching for a silver lining to the pandemic should look to the clear, blue skies above them. A reduction in pollution worldwide has been an unintended benefit of the lockdowns and stay-in-place orders imposed to control the spread of COVID-19.
During the pandemic, the environmental and societal benefits of working at home quickly became apparent. How can businesses protect these benefits in the future?
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Investment
Thailand Q1 Investment Applications Soar 80% as FDI More Than Double says BOI
The top three source countries of FDI applications during the first quarter were South Korea, China, and Singapore, with similar levels of investment. Korean investment soared due to a large-scale joint venture in the medical sector, Ms Duangjai said.
The Thailand Board of Investment (BOI) said today that in the first quarter of 2021, investment applications rose 80% from the year earlier period to a total value of 123.4 billion baht (USD3.9 billion), led by projects in the medical and electric and electronics (E&E) sectors, as foreign direct investment (FDI) applications more than doubled.
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