BANGKOK LIFE EMBARKS ON IPO STRATEGY

Thailand’s Bangkok Life Assurance hopes to fund further expansion by listing on the country’s stock market. The insurer, which is part of Bangkok Bank, did not say when it intended to embark on the initial public offering, nor how much money it hoped to raise but said it planned to sell 200 million new shares to the public while a further 20 million shares would be reserved for warrants to be allocated to its employees. Nippon Life Insurance, Japan’s largest insurer holds a 25% stake in Bangkok Life which would be diluted to 20.83% by the IPO. The combined 47.96% held by Bangkok Bank and the Sophonpanich family would reduce to 39.96%.