Mexico's Fresnillo sets range for $2 bln London IPO

LONDON, April 24 (Reuters) - Fresnillo Ltd, the world's top silver producer, set an indicative price range of between 555p and 700p per share for its $2.2 billion London Stock Exchange IPO on Thursday, according to sources close to the deal.

The Mexican precious metals firm, which launched bookbuilding on Thursday, is offering $900 million worth of new shares.

Parent firm Penoles, which will retain a stake of 75 percent to 77.3 percent of Fresnillo after the initial public offering, is selling as much as $1.3 billion worth of existing shares.

The company and Penoles have agreed a lock-up period of one year.

Bookbuilding will close on May 8, with pricing expected on May 9.

The deal, underwritten by JPMorgan Cazenove, is vying for investor interest at the same time as Czech coal producer New World Resources' $2.2 billion IPO, another deal handled by JPMorgan Cazenove for which bookbuilding started Wednesday. (Reporting by Daisy Ku and Kennix Chim; editing by Rory Channing)