(Adds names of banks, detail and background)
By Anthony Deutsch
AMSTERDAM, Aug 26 (Reuters) - The Dutch government agencyoverseeing the privatisation of ABN Amro named eight banks onThursday 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 ofthe Netherlands Financial Investments (NLFI) agency.
In July the company named Deutsche Bank andMorgan Stanley, along with ABN itself, as globalcoordinators of the offering..
On Thursday the NLFI said Barclays, Citigroup, JPMorgan and Merrill Lynch would act asinternational bookrunners, ING and Rabobank would belocal bookrunners, while RBC Europe and Keefe, Bruyette & Woodswill also help underwrite the offering.
"In addition to quality, the transaction costs associatedwith the planned IPO also played an important role in theselection process," the NLFI said in a statement.
Participating banks will receive a zero base fee and amaximum of 50,000 euros ($57,000) each in expenses.
The NLFI may distribute up to a total of up to 4.5 millioneuros among the participating banks, at the discretion of theagency, once the offering is complete.
The NLFI repeated earlier statements on Thursday that thetiming of the IPO remains uncertain.
"The timing of the IPO depends on the state of the financialmarkets, amongst other things," it said.
The Dutch government has said it believes an offering in2015 is possible. When ABN Amro reported second-quarter earningsAug. 21, CEO Gerrit Zalm said the bank was on track for an IPOthis year.
The bank reported underlying second-quarter net profit of600 million euros ($677 million), up from 322 million a yearearlier.
ABN Amro's book value was 15.9 billion euros at the end ofthe second quarter, a rough indication of its likely marketvalue. 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)
Barclays (BARC)