UPDATE 1-Japan banks bid for Citi's Nikko Cordial - sources

* MUFG, Mizuho and SMFG made bids for Nikko Cordial

* Citigroup closed the bid on Monday

* Deal could be worth about 600 billion yen

By Taro Fuse

TOKYO, April 20 (Reuters) - Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group (8306.T), Mizuho Financial Group (8411.T) and Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group (8316.T) have submitted bids to buy the Japanese retail brokerage unit of Citigroup Inc (C.N) in a deal that could raise about 600 billion yen ($6 billion), five people with direct knowledge of the sale said.

Citigroup closed the final bidding for its planned sale of Nikko Cordial Securities on Monday, the sources said, as part of the struggling U.S. bank's global efforts to raise cash.

The sources asked not to be identified because the transaction is not public. A spokesman for Nikko Citi Holdings, the bank's holding company in Japan, declined to comment.

The sale includes part of Nikko Citigroup Ltd, the wholesale brokerage unit of Citigroup, the people said, but not Nikko Asset Management, its fund management arm that may be sold off in a separate transaction.

Citigroup spent about 1.5 trillion yen to acquire the Nikko Cordial franchise, which has about 110 branches and some 25 trillion yen in client assets as of December, second only to Nomura Holdings Inc (8604.T) among brokers in Japan.