Russia's MICEX-RTS stockmarket picks IPO banks-IFR

MOSCOW Feb 21 (Reuters) - Russia's newly merged MICEX-RTS stock exchange has selected banks to handle its up to $1 billion share float, giving top roles to the country's two largest banks, Sberbank and VTB, IFR reported on Tuesday.

The pair will work together on an initial public share offering (IPO) for the first time, as joint global co-ordinators and joint bookrunners alongside Credit Suisse and J.P. Morgan, according to IFR, a Thomson Reuters publication.

MICEX-RTS declined to comment.

Fellow Russian bank Renaissance Capital has also been given a role, acting as a joint bookrunner with Deutsche Bank, Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley and UBS, IFR said.

The combined exchange, which plans to list either in late 2012 or early 2013, has an estimated value of $4.5 billion.

It had planned to raise at least $300 million from the IPO, but IFR reported the deal size would now be increased to between $500 million and $1 billion to improve market liquidity.