Baker McKenzie Wong & Leow, the Singapore member firm of Baker McKenzie International, teamed up with Baker McKenzie in Thailand to advise Nomura Holdings, Inc. ("Nomura") on the successful sale of its entire stake in Capital Nomura Securities Public Company Limited ("CNS") to the Bank of Ayudhya Public Company Limited ("Krungsri").
The sale agreement, which covers CNS' domestic and retail brokerage businesses in Thailand, comprised Nomura's 99.1% stake in CNS held by Nomura Asia Investment (Singapore) Pte. Ltd. The transaction was completed on 7 March 2023, having obtained approvals from Krungsri's shareholders, the Bank of Thailand and other relevant regulatory agencies.
The cross-border Baker McKenzie team advising Nomura was led by M&A Principal Andrew Martin of Baker McKenzie Wong & Leow in Singapore and Financial Services Partner Benja Supannakul of Baker McKenzie in Thailand.
Andrew and Benja were supported by Local Principal Sharon Foo in Singapore and Partners Apichart Kasemsri Na Ayudhya, Sujade Simthamnimit and Theppachol Kosol in Thailand.
Principal Andrew Martin commented: "We are pleased to have supported Nomura on the successful completion of its share sale to divest its Thailand domestic and retail brokerage businesses to Krungsri. Taking an integrated approach that draws on our international sell-side deals experience and local expertise across our Firm's specialist areas, our experienced team is able to help our client balance an international approach with local transactional needs."
Partner Benja Supannakul said: "The closing of this deal marks another successful collaboration between our Singapore and Bangkok offices in helping an international financial services client pursue its strategic goals in Southeast Asia, where the diverse and fragmented regulatory markets require a deep understanding of complex local regulatory issues and extensive financial services sector knowledge."
Other high-profile transactions that Baker McKenzie's Singapore and Bangkok offices have jointly advised in the past include Asia's first joint venture ("JV") in wealth management between Bank of Julius Baer and The Siam Commercial Bank and UOB Asset Management's acquisition of ING Funds (Thailand) Company Limited from the ING Group.