* Top of price range raised to 46 zlotys/shr from 43-sources
* New price could raise around 1.2 bln zlotys from IPO
* Books close on Thursday
(Adds results, CEO)
By Kylie MacLellan and Chris Borowski
LONDON/WARSAW, Oct 26 (Reuters) - Poland has lifted the upper end of the price range in the privatisation of the Warsaw bourse, sources said, in a deal that could raise around 1.2 billion zlotys ($427 million) to help ease stretched state coffers.
After strong investor interest, the top of the price range for institutional investors had been raised to 46 zlotys per share from 43 zlotys, with the bottom of the range unchanged at 36 zlotys, two sources close to the situation said on Tuesday.
"There was some communication to the market that it (Poland) can increase the top of the range to 46 zlotys," said one of the sources close to the deal.
The higher price would not apply to retail investors, who were being offered up to 30 percent of the 26.8 million shares on sale, the sources added. The bourse's IPO prospectus set a maximum price of 43 zlotys per share for retail investors.
Poland is keen for local investors to show a quick profit after the last major state company to be floated, utility Tauron , fell on its first day of trade in June.
The bourse's chief executive, Ludiwk Sobolewski, declined to confirm the changed price range, while the spokesman for the Polish treasury, which plans to sell 64 percent of the bourse, was not immediately available for comment.
The government hopes to raise 25 billion zlotys from privatisations to help slash a debt pile that is expected to rise to around 50 billion zlotys this year.
The offer comes at a time of resurgence in European public offerings as equity markets rebound to near six-month highs and investors become increasingly less risk averse.
AZ Electronic Materials (AZ), a group that makes chemicals used in Apple iPads, and Italian utility group Enel's green power business are both due to price their offerings towards the end of this week.
AZ's $400 million initial public offering (IPO) was covered at the midpoint of the 200 to 280 pence range, said one source close to the offer.
PROFIT FALLS
In its drive to raise cash from the sale of state assets, Poland's privatisation of state-controlled insurer PZU topped the list of Europe's biggest flotations so far this year, raising $2.7 billion.
The Warsaw bourse will be the country's last major privatisation of 2010. The exchange, which was housed for several years in the former communist party building when it was launched in 1991, initially listed just five companies.
It is now one of the fastest-growing European exchanges, listing 388 firms with a combined market capitalisation of 792 billion zlotys.
Also on Thursday, the bourse said its net profit fell 6 percent to 77 million zlotys in the first nine months of the year after Poland squeezed out a 505 million zloty dividend, which crimped financial income.
Its revenue rose 12 percent to 165 million.
Books close on Thursday, with final pricing expected to be announced on Friday morning. Trading is due to start on Nov. 9.
Citigroup, Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan and UBS are global coordinators of the offer. ($1=2.813 Zloty) (Additional reporting by Agnieszka Barteczko in Warsaw; Editing by Sharon Lindores and Michael Shields)