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By Tessa Walsh and Zaida Espana LONDON, Nov 6 (Reuters) - Camelot's five shareholders have asked for offers in around two weeks to buy the British national lottery operator in a sale that could fetch more than 500 million pounds ($830 million), two bankers said on Friday. Camelot has been reviewing its options since earlier this year when some of its shareholders -- Cadbury Plc, Royal Mail Enterprises, De La Rue, Fujitsu Services and Thales Electronics -- indicated interest in selling. "The whole company is up for sale," a banker close to the deal said. Camelot declined to comment. The information memorandum for the sale was issued this week by advisers Rothschilds and Greenhill & Co, which are running the auction process, he said. Camelot could sell for more than 500 million pounds, two bankers said, which would require a debt financing of 200-300 million pounds, the banker added. Camelot has a nine-year licence left to run the lottery, and an option to extend that for a further five years. The sale has already attracted interest from buyers including private equity firms, several bankers said, and first-round bids are due in around two weeks' time. "A bunch of sponsors are looking to buy the asset. The business is drawing a lot of attention as a monopoly business underpinned by contracts," the banker close to the deal said. Another banker said private equity firms may struggle to buy the company due to its commitment to provide 2.2 billion pounds towards the cost of staging the 2012 Olympics in London. (Reporting by Tessa Walsh and Zaida Espana, editing by Will Waterman) ($1=.6025 Pound) Keywords: CAMELOT/ (tessa.walsh@reuters.com; +44 20 7542 4048; Reuters Messaging: tessa.walsh.reuters.com@reuters.net) COPYRIGHT Copyright Thomson Reuters 2009. All rights reserved.
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