BJC TO BID FOR CARREFOUR THAI'S STORES

Thapana Sirivadhanabhakdi
Executive Director BJC PLC

Sydney, Sept 28 - Thai conglomerate Berli Jucker Pcl plans to lodge a second-round bid for French retailer Carrefour SA's Thai operations by November, and has an open mind on partnering up to buy more assets.

Berli director Thapana Sirivadhanabhakdi said on Tuesday the group remained a "keen bidder" and did not rule out teaming up with another player to bid for all of Carrefour's Asian assets, which analysts have valued at as much as $1 billion.

"We are pretty much open to all the opportunities but what we have right now is very much focused on the second round," he told Reuters on the sidelines of the Forbes Global CEO conference in Sydney.

"It's a kung fu fight kind of a deal," he added, when asked about competition for the retail assets. Berli Jucker, Thai retailer Central Group, Fance's Casino and Britain's Tesco are still in the running for the stores.

State-controlled PTT Pcl withdrew its bid earlier this month.

A deadline of November has been set for second-round bids, Thapana confirmed. 

Thapana, son of liquor tycoon Charoen Sirivadhanabhakdi, is also the chief executive of Thai Beverage Pcl (ThaiBev), the country's largest brewer and distiller.

Thai Beverage earlier this month scrapped plans to list shares on its home market and said it would not do a backdoor listing via a subsidiary.

Thapana said there were no immediate plans to change the company's market listing

He said Thai Beverage was looking at opportunities to expand in western markets and increase its product range. However, it had no plans to bid for Australia's Foster's beer and wine assets.