DUBAI, April 29 (Reuters) - The Gulf kingdom of Bahrain has mandated banks for a sovereign bond issue, three banking sources familiar with the matter said on Monday.

The government has picked BNP Paribas BNPP.PA , Citigroup Inc C.N , JP Morgan Chase JPM.N and GIB Capital, the investment banking arm of Gulf International Bank, the sources said, requesting anonymity because details of the mandate are not yet public.

Details of the timing, size and tenor of the deal were not immediately available, but any eventual transaction is expected to be at least $500 million in size.

(Reporting by Rachna Uppal and David French; Editing by Andrew Torchia)

((rachna.uppal@thomsonreuters.com)(+971 4 366 4240)(Reuters Messaging: rachna.uppal.reuters.com@reuters.net))

Keywords: BAHRAIN BOND/