After weeks of denials, the largest corporate takeover in Thai history was finally completed Monday with Singapore's Temasek holdings paying 73.3 billion Baht (about 1.83 billion US dollars) in a cash deal for a 49 percent stake in Shin Corp.

Thai Prime Minister's Shinawatra and Damapong families, in a series of big-lot transactions, sold off their 1.48 billion Shin shares to two holding vehicles controlled by Temasek at 49.25 Baht (about 1.23 US dollars) per share.

With the deal, the Shinawatra family will exit the telecom giant founded by Prime Minister Thaksin 22 years ago.

Thaksin insisted the sale by his family was the business of his children who held Shin Corp. shares - protecting him from allegations of conflicts of interest. "The kids would like their dad to devote himself completely to politics. The kids know their dad is working and they want Dad to do his best at work," he said.

"This is their decision. It took them quite a long time to make it," Thaksin told reporters at Government House.

Suvarn Valaisathien, a former deputy commerce minister and spokesman for the Shinawatra and Damapong families, said the deal offered a "win-win" situation for all parties, and was done for " purely business" reasons unrelated to politics.

"This transaction represents a win-win proposition as it allows the Shinawatra and Damapong families to exit completely from the business, while providing Shin with experienced, reputable and committed long-term shareholders who can support the company's regional growth aspirations and further strengthen Thailand's communication sector," he said.

Suvarn, a tax lawyer who has advised the Shinawatra family in the past, said that because the deal was a transaction conducted through the Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET), no tax liability was incurred for the sellers. Capital-gains tax is waived for SET transactions.

"This is an outright sale and the families have no buy-back rights. A portion of the sales proceeds will be donated toward the establishment of social contribution programs in Thailand," Suvarn said.

Temasek borrowed 11 billion Baht (about 275 million US dollars) from Siam Commercial Bank (SCB) and another 14 billion Baht (about 350 million US dollars) from Bangkok Bank to help finance the transaction, with the remainder funded through overseas loans. SCB Securities was an adviser for the deal.

Chayotid Kridakon, managing director of SCB Securities, said the shareholding loans were made to allow the deal to be put together quickly with a minimum of market disruption.

"We need to structure the deal using shareholder loans because we could not raise funds publicly because the deal would risk collapse," he said. "A plan to refinance the loans into baht is expected to be made later."

SCB will also end up holding 4.8 percent in Shin indirectly through Cedar Holdings.

Shin Corp.'s assets include phones, satellites, finance and airlines. On Monday, the SET in the morning halted trading in Shin Corp., Advanced Information Service, ITV, Shin Satellite and CS Loxinfo - parts of the Shin business empire founded by Thaksin in the 1990s.

Source: Xinhua