They fell to a four-month low of 37 baht.

Temasek paid 49.25 baht a share for a 49.6 percent stake in Shin from the family of Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra on Jan 23, and offered to buy the shares it didn't own by Mar 9.

The Singaporean company, through its units Aspen Holdings and Cedar Holdings, owned almost 2.91B Shin shares, or a 96.12 percent stake.

"You probably have a knee-jerk reaction of people not selling their shares," said Patipat Pattaphongse, director of research at Bangkok-based KGI Securities (Thailand).

"Without liquidity you have no foreign participation. The share price reflects the technical situation. The real value is a bit higher, pretty much close to where they bought it."

Temasek, the Singapore government's US$63B investment unit, also owns a 1.1 percent stake in Shin through SingTel, Southeast Asia's largest telephone company.

That leaves Bangkok-based Shin with less than 3 percent of shares available for trading.

Temasek's holding in Shin (if it gets all 2.91B shares) by value dropped by 34.9B bath (about US$920m or S$1.49B), based on the 24 percent decline in share price from the tender offer.

Under Thai market rules, at least 15 percent of the shares of a public company must not be linked to its main shareholders. The requirement must be met within a year.

Temasek may this year sell some of the shares it acquired to keep Shin listed in Thailand, Temasek managing director, Mr. S Iswaran said last week.

Shin's stock will be removed from the FTSE Group's All-World Index, All-Emerging Index and Global Islamic Index tomorrow because of Temasek's takeover, FTSE said last week.

Richard Moe, an analyst at TMB Macquarie Securities (Thailand), advised investors in a Mar 15 note to avoid Shin and focus on affiliates and units such as:-

* Advanced Info Service, the country's biggest cell-phone operator, Shin Satellite, the nation's only satellite operator, and * ITV, a television network.

SingTel sale

Meanwhile, Temasek raised S$2B (US$1.2 billion) by selling shares in SingTel, giving the fund cash to expand overseas.

Temasek sold 770m shares at S$2.66 each, 5 percent less than the last closing price, the fund said in a statement yesterday. The sale cut Temasek's stake to 56.3 percent from 61 percent, and sent shares of Southeast Asia's biggest phone company down as much as 6.1 percent.

Chief Executive Officer Ho Ching is seeking to raise the proportion of overseas investments in Temasek's S$103B of assets to boost returns, buying stakes in drugmakers, airlines and banks in Asia.

The policy may lead to further sales of shares in SingTel.

"They will continue to sell down their stock," said Wong Soon Tong, an analyst at Daiwa Institute of Research with a 'hold' rating on SingTel shares. "Maybe they need it to pay for Shin Corp."

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