HSBC, Thanachart among the remaining Siam City bidders

Lenders still eager to acquire 47.6 percent stake in Siam City after three other bidders quit.

People with knowledge of the matter said Hong Leong Bank Bhd. of Malaysia failed to submit a binding bid by a Feb. 1 deadline. CVC Capital Partners Ltd. dropped out on concern the Thai government won't allow financial investors to control a local bank, one of the people said. While Korea Development Bank said Feb. 1 it had abandoned plans to buy the stake.

HSBC has yet to submit a formal offer with detailed terms, though is still in talks with the central bank about the Siam City stake, one of the people said, in a report in Business Week.

Thailand's central bank is selling its holding in Siam City Bank, the country's seventh-largest lender, as the government eases restrictions on foreign financial-industry ownership. The stake may obtain more than $1 billion, one of the people said.

A source said Bank of Nova Scotia is bidding through its Thanachart Bank affiliate, of which it owns 49 percent. The Bangkok-based bank is negotiating terms of an offer it submitted this week to UBS AG, which is advising the Thai central bank.

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