Thai import and export firm Berli Jucker (BJC) has been quick to turn up the heat after acquiring a majority stake in Big C Thailand this week, making a bid to buy out the founding partner and minor shareholders to secure 100 per cent ownership.

In a report to the Stock Exchange of Thailand, BJC says it will tender an offer of 250.26 baht (US$7.09) a share at the end of this month to acquire the remaining 41.45 per cent stake in Thailand’s second-largest hypermarket group, Big C Supercenter. The total value of the offer is about 85.57 billion baht ($2.44 billion).

This follows Berli Jucker shareholders earlier this month voting in favour of the $6.2 billion acquisition of a majority stake in Big C Thailand. Virtually unanimous, the vote came on the heels of funding for the purchase being secured from a syndicate of 15 banks. It is expected to settle the payment and share transfer by next week.

BJC, the core retail business of TCC Group owned by Thai tycoon Charoen Sirivadhanabhakdi, won an auction for French retailer Groupe Casino’s 58.55 per cent stake in Big C Thailand in February.

A month earlier, through its TCC Land International unit, TCC paid $711 million to buy Metro Group’s 19 wholesale stores in Vietnam and the related real-estate portfolio.