UPDATE 2-Danish bank Roskilde hits trouble, for sale

(Rewrites, adds central bank governor, analyst comment, other banks)

By Gelu Sulugiuc COPENHAGEN, July 11 (Reuters) - Struggling Danish bank Roskilde ROSK.CO secured a bailout of 750 million crowns ($158.6 million) from the central bank and put itself up for sale on Friday in the face of bigger than expected writedowns on real estate loans.

Against a backdrop of a slowing economy, falling house prices and an absence of buyers, the small bank's shares sank more than 50 percent in developments recalling last year's collapse of British mortage bank Northern Rock.

Roskilde blamed global financial turmoil and a downturn on the Danish real estate market for a "severe adverse development in a number of larger client relationships".

Shares in the bank were down nearly 52 percent at 70 Danish crowns at 1414. The DJ Nordic Banking index was down 2.5 percent.

Roskilde, with 24 branches and about 100,000 customers, is the second small Danish bank to face a liquidity crunch. Earlier this year, Trelleborg was forced to sell itself to bigger rival Sydbank (SYDB.CO: Quote, Profile, Research).

Central bank governor Nils Bernstein said it was the bank's job to "to provide liquidity under certain conditions to solvent banks that encounter liquidity troubles.

"This is not a safety net without conditions, and the bank's management has pledged to work to sell the bank within six months."

Bernstein added that the Danish financial sector was generally healthy and robust.