Blackstone, Lion complete Orangina sale to Suntory

TOKYO, Nov 13 (Reuters) - Private equity firms Blackstone Group (BX.N) and Lion Capital (LCHL.OB) said they completed the sale of soft drinks maker Orangina Schweppes to Japanese brewer Suntory [SUNTH.UL].

Suntory will pay 2.6 billion euros ($3.86 billion) for Orangina, two sources familiar with the situation had told Reuters in September. [ID:nLM200825]

Orangina -- whose brands include Snapple, Oasis and La Casera -- is the second-largest European producer in the still soft drinks market.

Blackstone and Lion had bought the producer of Orangina and Schweppes drinks for $2.6 billion in 2006, investing roughly $600 million of their own capital. ($1=.6731 EURO) (Reporting by Junko Fujita)