By Gilles Guillaume and Matthieu Protard
PARIS, June 13 (Reuters) - The French airports of Nice and Lyon have attracted at least 16 bidders ahead of a July 4 deadline for firm offers, according to sources close to the matter.
The privatisation of France's two biggest regional airports is expected to yield up to 1.5 billion euros ($1.69 billion) for the government, which already exited Toulouse-Blagnac airport in 2014.
Eight companies or consortiums have bid for Nice airport, the sources said.
These include Italy's Atlantia ATL.MI along with EDF EDF.PA investment branch EDF Invest; a consortium of Ardian, Siparex, Caisses d'Epargne and JCDecaux JCDX.PA ; Industry Fund Management (IFM); Spain's Ferrovial FER.MC with Meridiam; a consortium of Vinci , CDC and Predica SGEF.PA CAGR.PA ; Turkey's Limak; Germany's Allianz ALVG.DE alongside Global Infrastructure Partners; and Zurich's airport along with the Canadian Pension Plan Investment Board.
Eight companies or consortiums have also bid for Lyon airport, according to the sources.
These are Ardian-Siparex-Caisses d'Epargne-JCDecaux; IFM; Ferrovial-Meridiam; Vinci-CDC-Predica; Limak; Atlantia; the Cube fund in association with Geneva airport; and Macquarie MQG.AX along with FFP FFPP.PA .
No one was immediately reachable for comment at the economy ministry. ($1 = 0.8861 euros)