Malaysia's investment bank CIMB is keen to acquire a larger chunk of Thailand's ACL Bank if it succeeds in buying the 19.26 percent stake currently up for grabs.

"We are not financial investors, we are strategic investors. Our intention is to grow that stake," Nazir Razak, CIMB chief executive was quoted saying by the official Bernama news agency.

"We wouldn't buy and just stick to the 20 percent," he said.

CIMB and China's top bank Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) are vying to buy the 19.26 percent stake held by Bangkok Bank, the Thai Finance Ministry announced last month.

The ministry owns 30.61 percent of ACL Bank and CIMB is also interested to take over that holding, Nazir said.

"We would want to look at buying the ministry's stake over time, whenever they are ready to sell it," he said.

Nazir said CIMB "would like to have as much of ACL as we can get our hands on because we would like ACL to be part of CIMB."

ACL Bank is the smallest of Thailand's 14 commercial banks with assets totalling US$1.78 billion and its market share is 0.77 percent, with 11 branches across the country.

CIMB is Malaysia's second largest bank by assets.