(Updates sourcing)
June 2 (Reuters) - German drugs and crop chemicals groupBayer AG, which has made a $62 billion bid for U.S.seeds company Monsanto Co, has added more banks to itsacquisition financing package, according to a person familiarwith the matter.
HSBC Holdings Plc, Goldman Sachs Group Inc and JPMorgan Chase & Co have joined existing Bayeradvisers Bank of America Corp and Credit Suisse Group AG in the loan facility, the person said on Thursday afterthe German newspaper Handelsblatt first reported on the news.
The loan facility totals 60 billion euros ($67 billion), andcan be expanded up to 75 billion euros, the source added.
Bayer made an unsolicited takeover offer for Monsanto inMay, aiming to create the world's biggest agricultural supplier.Monsanto turned down the offer as "incomplete and financiallyinadequate," but said it was open to further talks. The twocompanies have since sat down to try to negotiate a deal.
The loan facility, with a maturity of up to a year, willhave around a 0.5 percent interest rate for the first half,Handesblatt reported.
"As a matter of principle, we do not comment on any marketrumors," Bayer spokesman Michael Preuss said on Thursday.
The banks either declined or were not immediately availablefor comment. ($1 = 0.8972 euros) (Reporting by Alexander Huebner in Frankfurt and Arathy S Nairin Bengaluru; Editing by Don Sebastian and Tom Brown)