Spire Healthcare to list on London Stock Exchange - sources

June 24 (Reuters) - One of Britain's largest hospital chains, Spire Healthcare, is about to list on the London Stock Exchange in a float estimated to be about 1 billion pounds ($1.70 billion), two sources familiar with the matter told Reuters.

Spire Healthcare, which is owned by private equity firm Cinven, owns 38 hospitals across the United Kingdom and will be publishing its formal intention to float on the London Stock Exchange.

Spire (Stuttgart: SIZ.SG - news) , which will become the first British hospital chain to list on the London Stock Exchange (Other OTC: LDNXF - news) , was recently cleared by the UK Competition and Markets Authority of being part of a cabal of private hospitals which had been accused of overpricing.

Spire is looking to cash in on the rapidly expanding healthcare market in the United Kingdom where the private sector is growing as budget cuts have been begun hitting the National Health Services.

Cinven was not immediately available to comment.

($1 = 0.5892 British Pounds) (Reporting Freya Berry in London and Tasim Zahid in Bangalore, editing by William Hardy)