Thailand’s biggest lender Bangkok Bank Plc (BBL) said Tuesday it agreed to sell a 19 percent stake in ACL Bank (ACL) to Industrial and Commercial Bank of China.

However, the deal will begin after received the Finance Minister approval.

Shares of ACL was traded up 3.42 percent at 6.25 percent peak in Tuesday morning session on the released data before slightly close down at 5.85 baht, or plus two percent from yesterday’s close price.

Bangkok Bank executive chairman Kosit Panpiemras has confirmed that talks between BBL and ICBC had been completed. Now it depends on the government approval.

Mr. Kosit said he wants the deal to end very soon, so that ICBC can process a tender offer of ACL shares to the public.

ACL is 30.6 percent owned by the Finance Ministry. In late 2007 ICBC began talk about buying a 49 percent stake from its existing shareholders.

Analyst said Bangkok Bank may book a pretax profit from the deal of more than 2 billion baht if the negotiation price is higher than 1.5 times ACL’s book value of 8.00 baht.