Dutch state agency picks investment banks for ABN Amro sale

(Adds names of banks, detail and background)

By Anthony Deutsch

AMSTERDAM, Aug 26 (Reuters) - The Dutch government agency overseeing the privatisation of ABN Amro named eight banks on Thursday to participate in the bank's initial public offering (IPO) of shares.

ABN Amro, nationalized in 2008 during the financial crisis, is preparing for an IPO later this year under the auspices of the Netherlands Financial Investments (NLFI) agency.

In July the company named Deutsche Bank (Other OTC: DBAGF - news) and Morgan Stanley (Xetra: 885836 - news) , along with ABN itself, as global coordinators of the offering..

On Thursday the NLFI said Barclays (LSE: BARC.L - news) , Citigroup (Swiss: C.SW - news) , JPMorgan (LSE: JPIU.L - news) and Merrill Lynch would act as international bookrunners, ING and Rabobank would be local bookrunners, while RBC Europe and Keefe, Bruyette & Woods will also help underwrite the offering.

"In addition to quality, the transaction costs associated with the planned IPO also played an important role in the selection process," the NLFI said in a statement.

Participating banks will receive a zero base fee and a maximum of 50,000 euros ($57,000) each in expenses.

The NLFI may distribute up to a total of up to 4.5 million euros among the participating banks, at the discretion of the agency, once the offering is complete.

The NLFI repeated earlier statements on Thursday that the timing of the IPO remains uncertain.

"The timing of the IPO depends on the state of the financial markets, amongst other things," it said.

The Dutch government has said it believes an offering in 2015 is possible. When ABN Amro reported second-quarter earnings Aug. 21, CEO Gerrit Zalm said the bank was on track for an IPO this year.

The bank reported underlying second-quarter net profit of 600 million euros ($677 million), up from 322 million a year earlier.

ABN Amro's book value was 15.9 billion euros at the end of the second quarter, a rough indication of its likely market value. The government intends to privatise the bank gradually, selling a tranche of 25 percent in the IPO. ($1 = 0.8790 euros) (Editing by Jason Neely and David Holmes)