UPDATE 1-Imperial to cut 2,440 jobs in Altadis merger

(Rewrites with further details)

LONDON, June 19 (Reuters) - Britain's Imperial Tobacco Group Plc (IMT.L) on Thursday said it was to cut around 2,440 jobs from its global workforce of 40,000 following its acquisition of Franco-Spanish tobacco group Altadis earlier this year.

The brunt of the job losses of almost 2,000 will occur in France and Spain in an integration which will see six tobacco plants close including two in France and one each in Spain, Britain, Germany and Slovakia out of its global total of 58.

The cuts and resultant efficiencies will cost Imperial around 600 million euros and lead to previously announced annual cost savings of around 300 million euros by September 2010 rising to 400 million euros by September 2012.

The British-based maker of Lambert & Butler and West cigarettes paid 12.6 billion euros to buy the maker of Gauloises and Fortune in late January, and last month announced a rights issue of 4.9 billion pounds to help pay for it.

Under the integration plan, 1,060 French jobs will be cut largely through the closure of plants at Strasbourg and Metz, while 830 jobs in Spain will be cut which include the closure of its Alicante cigarette factory.

In Britain, some 260 jobs will be cut with the closure of its Bristol cigar plant in the company's home city and the transfer of some production from its big Nottingham plant to other European factories.

In Germany, Imperial's old Reemtsma Berlin plant will close as part of 250 jobs cut in the country, while merging Imperial's and Altadis's sales force in Russia will cost 100 positions.

Other integration moves in Belgium, Italy, Ukraine and the closure of a Slovakia tobacco factory will cost around 140 jobs.

The one bright spot for jobs is in Poland where the combined group employs around 1,600, and this will potentially rise by around 200, the group said. (Reporting by David Jones; Editing by David Cowell)