LAGOS (Reuters) - Nigeria is planning a roadshow to the United States next week with the book-runners for its $500 million debut eurobond and is on track to complete the issue before the end of the year, banking sources said on Tuesday.

"We expect (the roadshow) should terminate on December 16 or 17 and immediately after that we determine the pricing of the bond and the book-building starts. We intend to complete before the end of the year,” one of the sources close to the deal said.

Sub-Saharan Africa’s second biggest economy plans to issue the 10-year bond to set a benchmark for Nigerian state governments and companies to follow suit.

It first announced plans to borrow on the international bond market in September 2008 but later put the issue on hold, citing adverse market conditions.

Many international investors will close their order books for the year within a fortnight and analysts had started to fear the issue could be delayed again. Global markets have also been volatile due to uncertainty about the debt crisis in Europe.

One banker close to the Nigerian eurobond issue said international investors had started registering expressions of interest and that the relatively small size of the issue meant there should be no trouble raising the funds.

"One big portfolio manager could snap up the whole thing,” the source said, asking not to be named.

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