UPDATE 1-Ten firms bid for 49 pct of Bulgarian nuclear plant

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SOFIA, June 6 (Reuters) - Ten companies have expressed an interest in buying up to 49 percent of a 4.0 billion euro ($5.41 billion) nuclear power plant that Bulgaria is building near the town of Belene, state utility NETC said on Wednesday.

Czech power producer CEZ , Italy's Enel , Germany's E.ON and RWE , France's EdF and Spain's Endesa have filed bids for a minority stake in the 2,000 megawatt plant.

Swiss energy firms EGL and Atel , as well as Belgium's Electrabel and the Bulgarian unit of Belgian copper refiner Cumerio have also put in bids.

The new European Union member has contracted Russia's Atomstroyexport, controlled by gas giant Gazprom , to build two 1,000 megawatt reactors at the Danube river town of Belene. The plant is expected to come online in 2014.

NETC, which will keep at least 51 percent in the Belene plant, said it would shortlist potential investors. It plans to pick a winner by the end of the year and wrap up the deal next February.

"We will launch talks with shortlisted bidders once they receive an information memorandum and sign a confidentiality agreement," NETC spokeswoman said. "The shortlisting should not take long," she said without elaborating.

NETC has contracted BNP Paribas to arrange a 250- million-euro, five-year syndicated loan to launch the construction of the plant, but said the loan would be refinanced once it selects a new strategic investor.

It expects the investor to help it secure financing for the plant by either offering a corporate guarantee or by signing long-term power purchase agreements that will help it receive better debt conditions.

Earlier on Wednesday Enel said it can help the development of the project by facilitating the involvement of financial institutions and by ensuring the purchase of a significant part of electricity produced.

NETC expects to structure the final financing for the Balkan country's biggest infrastructure project since the fall of communism by next April.