RLPC-Alliance Boots banks sell part of 9.02 bln pounds loan

LONDON May 16 (Reuters) - The eight-strong bank group behind Alliance Boots' [AB.UL] 9.02 billion pounds hung buyout financing has already sold some of the first and second lien loans to investors and expect to announce further sales early next week, banking sources close to the deal said.

The banks could announce the sale of just under half of the 9.02 billion pound ($17.55 billion) buyout loan, that was stranded in mid-2007 by the credit crunch, as early as next Monday, sources said.

"The good news is that something is coming together. We have a number of outright cash bids in and levered bids. It will probably be Monday's business before it is settled," a syndicate head said.

The eight banks have already sold some of a 2 billion euro ($3.10 billion) carveout of the first lien loan that was shown to institutional investors earlier this week, sources said.

"I already got some first lien this week," a leading institutional investor said.

The leads also sold around 2 billion pounds of the company's first lien loan to a consortium of private equity funds including Apollo Management, Blackstone (BX.N: Quote, Profile, Research) and Texas Pacific Group [TPG.UL] on Thursday, banking sources said.

The private equity consortium bought the first lien loan at 90-91 percent of face value, with some buyers taking as much as 500 million pounds each, sources added.

The arranging banks also sold around 600 million pounds of the second lien to Goldman Sachs' mezzanine fund in a single cash sale at 85 percent of face value, sources said.

Some sales are still in process, as investors required additional trading information, and are expected to be announced on Monday, sources said.