Tisco Bank said on Wednesday it has withdrawn form negotiations to buy 42 per cent stake in BankThai following the pressures from political strife.

Tisco shares were suspended on Wednesday after the Thai-language newspaper Post Today reported that it had file a bidding to buy stake in BankThai from the central bank rescue arm Financial Institutions Development Fund (FIDF) at 2.10-2.20 baht a share.

The FIDF was reported under investigation by the Finance Ministry following the disclosure.

“Negotiations are unlikely to finalize within June as formerly expected due to political conflict weighed its prices to go down even further,” a news source said.

BankThai shares rose as high as 25.6 percent to 1.67 baht, its highest since December 2007, but then fell back to be up only 2.3 percent at 1.36 baht after the denial of the newspaper report.

BankThai, which is already 42 percent owned by a consortium led by TPG Newbridge, has a market value of $267 million on the Thai bourse.

The bank has about 218 billion baht ($6.6 billion) in assets, 86.6 billion baht in loans and operates 146 branches.