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BANGKOK, March 14 (Reuters) Singapore's Temasek Holdings said today it completed its $3.8 billion takeover of Shin Corp., Thailand's top telecoms firm, a controversial deal that helped fuel a political crisis in Bangkok.

The Singapore government's investment arm and its subsidiaries scooped up so many shares in a mandatory tender that Shin Corp.

could be delisted from the Thai bourse.

The completion of the tender, which raised Temasek's stake to more than 96 percent, according to a filing to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), came as more than 100,000 people demonstrated in the Thai capital calling on Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra to quit.

The tender followed the sale to Temasek in late January of a controlling 49.6 percent stake in Shin Corp. by relatives of Thaksin -- who founded the telecoms company -- in Thailand's biggest foreign buyout.

The tax-free deal outraged Bangkok's middle classes, stoked a campaign to oust Thaksin and prompted accusations that potentially vital national security assets, such as satellites and telephone networks, were coming under foreign control.

Temasek subsidiaries launched the tender on Feb. 2 to buy the remaining 1.5 billion shares in Shin Corp. at 49.25 baht each through two Thai-registered firms, Cedar Holdings and Aspen Holdings. They paid for the shares in the tender on Tuesday.

Cedar is 49 percent-owned by Temasek, with the remaining 51 percent held by Siam Commercial Bank and Kularb Kaew, an unlisted Thai holding company. Aspen is owned indirectly by a Temasek subsidiary.

Shareholders who held 159.12 million Shin warrants also accepted the tender at 28.75 baht each, SEC data showed.

The warrants, to be exercised in May, will raise Temasek's holding to 96.3 percent, a stake which Reuters calculations showed would cost 147.7 billion baht ($3.79 billion).

Analysts said the result of the tender could risk Shin Corp.

being delisted as the stock's free float was below the 15 percent required by market regulators.

Temasek, which has said it would keep Shin Corp. listed for at least one year, may opt to sell shares to the public to avoid a delisting, they said.

POLITICAL ISSUE Shin Corp, Thailand's seventh-largest listed firm, is a holding company which realises earnings from its subsidiaries and affiliates ranging from mobile telephones and a budget airline to consumer finance businesses.

Shin owns 43 percent of Advanced Info Service (AIS), Thailand's largest mobile phone operator, which has a 55 percent share of the domestic market.

The political crisis, which prompted a campaign to boycott Shin-related goods and services, would add short-term pressure to Shin Corp., but its outlook should remain bright on hopes Temasek would strengthen the group's businesses, analysts said.

They said Temasek should provide technology support to AIS in a market where competition is intense after Norway's Telenor took control of second-ranked Total Access Communication (TAC) last year.

''The deal has become a political issue,'' said Capital Nomura Securities analyst Prasit Sujiravorakul. ''Temasek will make Shin and AIS equal with Telenor. The Shin group may have to rebrand its image in the future when the dust settles''.

Temasek, whose subsidiaries also launched a tender for AIS shares, holds about 65 percent of Singapore Telecommunication Ltd., which owns almost a fifth of AIS.

Shin Corp. also owns 42 percent of Shin Satellite, which operates IPSTAR, the world's largest broadband satellite, and 53 percent of ITV PCL, which operates Thailand's third most popular television channel.

In late trading, Shin Corp. shares were down 3.7 percent at 45.25 baht, while the main Thai index gained 0.6 percent.

($1=39.01 baht) REUTERS SR PM1853

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