UAE bank gets nod for Malaysia's RHB stake buy-paper

KUALA LUMPUR, March 3 (Reuters) - Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank ADCB.AD is believed to have received approval to buy a 25 percent stake in Malaysia's fourth-largest lender, RHB Capital (RHBC.KL: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), a local newspaper reported on Monday.

The Star daily said the United Arab Emirates bank is buying the stake at between 7.20 and 7.40 ringgit per share. RHB Capital shares traded around 5.05 ringgit early on Monday.

RHB Capital officials could not be immediately reached for comment.

ADCB has been in talks to buy the 25 percent stake from Malaysian state pension fund, the Employees Provident Fund (EPF), and said last month it was close to concluding the deal, which it first announced in December.

EPF, which took over RHB Group last March after beating out rivals including Kuwait Finance House (KFIN.KW: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), wants to slash its stake in RHB Capital to 35 percent from 82 percent by July.

RHB has banking operations in Singapore, Thailand and Brunei. It has 280 retail banking branches, investment banking operations and an Islamic subsidiary that is the sixth-largest Islamic bank in Asia. (Reporting by Syed Azman, editing by Jacqueline Wong)