UPDATE 1-Taiwan High Speed Rail in T$390bln refinance-sources

* Deal would be biggest-ever syndicated loan in Taiwan

* Government says transaction to be completed by year-end (Adds details, quotes)

By Stephanie Tong and Lin Miao-jung

TAIPEI, July 6 (Reuters) - Taiwan High Speed Rail Corp (HSR) (2633.TWO) is urgently looking to refinance T$390 billion ($11.9 billion) in debt, a deal that would be the biggest-ever syndicated loan in Taiwan's history, sources said.

The financing deal would replace two existing syndicated loans and a convertible bond, with the unlisted government-backed Bank of Taiwan leading talks, two banking sources told Basis Point, a unit of Thomson Reuters.

"The government hopes to sign the new refi in November," said a banker familiar with the situation.

Taiwan's Ministry of Transport, the rail operator's largest shareholder, declined to confirm the details, but said the operator was in talks with banks and that the transaction would be completed by the end of the year.

"Interest rates today are much lower than they were before," Ju Hsu, HSR's director-general, told Reuters. "There could be a significant difference in the amount of interest being paid right now if there is a refinancing."

The company has been grappling with consecutive quarters of losses, which it blamed on high interest rate repayments stemming from a T$323.3 billion loan it took in 2000 to build the railway.

The planned deal also comes at a time when liquidity is relatively tight and banks are unwilling to lend due to the global financial slowdown.

Taiwan's Minister of Transport Mao Chih-kuo said in an interview in May that the rail operator would be profitable if not for the high interest rates and that the government was talking with a banking consortium and HSR to lower rates.

"There should be space for HSR to refinance their loan at a lower rate, keeping in mind how things have changed between 2000 and now," Mao said in May.

Shares of HSR were down 2.78 percent at 0416 GMT. ($1=32.92 Taiwan Dollar) (Writing by Kelvin Soh; Editing by Chris Lewis)