MADRID, March 6 (Reuters) - Spain's Santander

has hired Barclays ( JJCTF ) and Goldman Sachs ( GS ) to launch an initial public

offering of payments company Ebury, which it majority owns,

Expansion said on Thursday.

Ebury would aim to go public around May or June on the

London Stock Exchange with a valuation of around 2.5 billion

pounds ($3.22 billion), according to unidentified sources close

to the process cited by Expansion.

Santander, which declined to comment on the Expansion

report, has said in the past that a listing of Ebury was one of

many alternatives for the business.

Barclays ( JJCTF ), Goldman Sachs ( GS ) and Ebury were not immediately

available for comment.

Ebury is part of PagoNxt, Santander's global payments

platform, which is one of the bank's five core global business

areas.

In October, Ebury hired finance veteran Bruce Carnegie-Brown

as its chairman ahead of a potential stock exchange float.

($1 = 0.7754 pounds)