BERLIN, April 19 (Reuters) - Laboratory services group Synlab on Monday set the price range for its planned initial public offering at 18 euros to 23 euros ($21.54 - $27.52) per share, implying a total market capitalisation of up to 5 billion euros. Synlab said it will offer up to 71.5 million ordinary shares, leading to a total IPO size of up to 1.48 billion euros. It said it aimed to raise 400 million euros from the offering of new shares that will be used to repay part of its outstanding debt. The rest of will go to shareholders Cinven , Novo Holdings and the Canadian teacher pension fund OTPP. Books will open on April 20, a bookrunner said on Monday, with the company expecting the offer period to end on April 27 with the first trading day planned on April 30. The issue is organised by JP Morgan and Goldman Sachs with the help of Bank of America, Barclays , BNP Paribas, Deutsche Bank, HSBC , Jefferies and UniCredit. ($1 = 0.8358 euros) (Reporting by Riham Alkousaa, editing by Louise Heavens)