RLPC-Advisers appointed on Montagu's BSN sale

* Third attempt at exit for Montagu

* Timetable for sale being drawn up

* Likely to kick off within a month

* Interest from trade buyers, private equity expected

By Claire Ruckin

LONDON, Jan 23 (Reuters) - Private equity firm Montagu Private Equity's sale of German bandages maker BSN Medical is progressing after Goldman Sachs and HSBC were appointed as sellside advisers on the deal which could fetch up to 2 billion euros ($2.58 billion), bankers said.

Montagu bought BSN for 1.03 billion euros in December 2005 and this is the third attempt by the buyout house to exit the company after it was forced to abandon a sale in 2008 due to the financial crisis. In 2010 a flotation valuing the company at as much as 2 billion euros failed.

"BSN Medical is in the classic healthcare sector. It is a good, strong and fairly popular business with a growing demography and it would be strange if something couldn't be made to happen here," a source close to the deal said.

Goldman and HSBC were appointed as sellside advisers following a beauty parade [ID: nL6E8CC41O].

The banks are now in discussions with Montagu to work out a timetable for the sale, with an information memorandum expected to be sent out and an auction process started, in the next month bankers said.

Goldman and HSBC are likely to put a staple financing package together which will be offered to private equity firms looking to back the buyout with debt, bankers said. The deal is also likely to attract attention from trade buyers.

When Montagu attempted its previous exits a number of potential buyers surfaced including strategics 3M, Kimberly Clarke, Cardinal Health and Medline in the United States, and Sweden's Molnlycke Health Care as well as private equity firms Apax Partners and Bain Capital.

Buyout firms Avista Capital and Nordic Capital, which jointly bought Convatec Healthcare in 2008, have also been touted as a potential buyer, a banker said.

"BSN has been under private equity ownership for a long time and there might not be a lot of growth potential. For any private equity sponsor to make his returns work on it he needs really high leverage as the business has always performed flattish," a banker said.

Hamburg-based BSN was formed in 2001 as a joint venture between Smith & Nephew and Beiersdorf. When Montagu bought BSN in December 2005 it was backed by 755 million euros of debt, with an additional 155 million euros raised in add-on facilities in 2007 according to Thomson Reuters LPC data. ($1 = 0.7740 euros) (Reporting by Claire Ruckin; Editing by Helen Massy-Beresford)