Malaysia's Bumi-Commerce drops after Thai purchase

KUALA LUMPUR, June 23 (Reuters) - Shares in Malaysia's second-largest lender, Bumiptura-Commerce Holdings (BUCM.KL), fell 3.6 percent on Monday after its CIMB unit took a 42 percent stake in Thailand's BankThai BT.BK.

CIMB agreed to buy the stake in BankThai -- the group's second purchase in four months -- for $177 million, or 2.91 times BankThai's book value of 0.73 baht per share at the end of March.

Bumiputra-Commerce shares fell as much as 3.64 percent to 7.95 ringgit per share by 0105 GMT.

(Reporting by Niluksi Koswanage)