Thai Berli secures $6.2 bln financing to buy Casino's Big C stake - sources

By Manunphattr Dhanananphorn and Prakash Chakravarti

BANGKOK/HONG KONG, March 16 (Reuters) - Thailand's Berli Jucker Pcl has secured a $6.2 billion short-term financing deal with 15 banks to fund the acquisition of Big C Supercenter from France's Casino Group, people with direct knowledge of the deal said.

Berli, the core retail business of Thai tycoon Charoen Sirivadhanabhakdi's TCC Group, won a hotly contested auction for Casino's 58.6 percent stake in Big C.

Berli spokespeople declined to comment on the loans on Wednesday.

Nine banks including BNP Paribas (LSE: 0HB5.L - news) and Bank of China (HKSE: 3988-OL.HK - news) signed an agreement on Wednesday in Bangkok to provide a 3.2 billion euros ($3.5 billion) 12-month bridge loan to fund Berli's payment to Casino, four sources told Reuters, declining to be identified as they were not authorised to speak publicly on the deal.

The other banks were Bangkok Bank, HSBC, the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC (HKSE: 1398-OL.HK - news) ), Japan's Mizuho Bank, Rabobank, Standard Chartered (HKSE: 2888.HK - news) and Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp, the sources said.

Seven Thai banks will provide a one-year baht-denominated loan worth $2.68 billion to Berli to fund a general offer to buy outstanding Big C shares from remaining shareholders, the sources said.

Those banks are Bangkok Bank, Krung Thai Bank, Siam Commercial Bank and Kasikornbank, Tisco Bank , Kiatnakin Bank and TMB Bank (Other OTC: TMBBF - news) , they said.

($1 = 35.0200 baht) (Reporting by Manunphattr Dhanananphorn and Prakash Chakravarti in Hong Kong; writing by Khettiya Jittapong; editing by Simon Webb and David Clarke)