Ladbrokes to repay 351 mln stg bond this month-paper

LONDON, July 5 (Reuters) - Ladbrokes (LAD.L) will repay a 351 million pound ($576 million) bond later this month, giving the British bookmaker breathing space to refinance its 900 million pound debt, The Sunday Telegraph reported.

The betting operator, which has 2,700 shops in the UK and overseas, has seen its shares fall 27 percent from a nine-month high in May after it issued a gloomy trading statement and was downgraded by ratings agency Fitch.

The bonds will be paid on July 17 by drawing down cash from a new 500-million-pound banking facility, the newspaper said, without citing sources.

Ladbrokes was not immediately available for comment. ($1=.6093 Pound) (Reporting by Paul Sandle; editing by Simon Jessop)