Thai Big C stake sale

BANGKOK: Investors in Big C, one of Thailand’s largest supermarket chains, cheered on Monday an up to $3.5 billion deal by France’s Casino Group to sell its majority holding to TCC Group, owned by whiskey tycoon Charoen Sirivadhanabhakdi. Shares in Big C Supercentre hit a 13-month high of 251 baht on Monday, just below the offer price of 252.88 baht, and jumped over nine per cent. If the deal is completed, Big C will hand TCC Thailand’s second-largest hypermarket operator after the Thai unit of Tesco PLC.