KARACHI/SINGAPORE, Jan 10: Singapore state investment agency Temasek Holdings Pte Ltd said on Monday it had agreed to buy 25 per cent of NDLC-IFIC Bank Ltd (NIB), a small Pakistani commercial bank.

According to a letter sent by Bugis Investment to the Karachi Stock Exchange, Bugis Investments (Mauritius) Pte Ltd, a 100-per cent owned subsidiary of Temasek, had signed an agreement to acquire 15,363,012 shares of the Pakistani bank.

The letter did not reveal the amount of the deal but said the acquisition was subject to certain conditions, including obtaining all relevant regulatory approvals. NIB has a market capitalization of $48.9 million, according to data from Reuters Research.

"It is a promising bank with strong management," Temasek spokeswoman Rachel Lin said. "The Pakistani banking sector holds good growth potential." Temasek, which has been on an aggressive buying spree of Asian assets in the last two years as it seeks to boost returns on its investments, has picked up stakes in banks in India, Indonesia, Malaysia and South Korea.

The State Bank of Pakistan has been pressing domestic banks to improve the risk management by boosting their paid-up capital to a minimum of Rs2 billion ($33.6 million). That has forced some banks to merge, and more than a dozen banks have either closed or merged in the last three years. -Reuters