Thai Land & Houses' financial arm plans Q1 2010 IPO

(For IPO diary and data, click on <TH/IPOMENU>)

BANGKOK, July 13 (Reuters) - LH Financial Group PCL, the financial arm of Thailand's biggest home builder, Land & Houses PCL LH.BK, said on Monday it planned an initial public offering in the first quarter of 2010.

"We have established LH Financial Group to be a holding company of LH Bank ... and will list LH Financial Group in the first quarter of next year," Sasitorn Phongsathorn, president of Land and Houses Retail Bank PCL, told reporters.

The bank is now a wholly owned unit of LH Financial Group after a restructuring in March. LH Financial Group is in turn 42 percent owned by Land & Houses and 26 percent owned by Quality Houses QH.BK.

LH Bank, founded in 2005, had said it planned an IPO in the second half of 2009. It wanted to raise at least 2.6 billion baht ($76 million) through the IPO and a stake sale to a foreign bank to enhance its competitiveness.

At midsession LH shares were down 3.9 percent at 4.4 baht, QH shares were 3.7 percent lower at 1.3 baht and the main Thai stock index .SETI was down 1.1 percent. ($1=34.09 Baht) (Reporting by Manunphattr Dhanananphorn; Writing by Viparat Jantraprap; Editing by Alan Raybould)