HONG KONG/BEIJING, April 25 (Reuters) - Several Chinese property developers attended talks with China's central bank last week to discuss the sale of distressed assets and other ways to support the real estate industry that has been battered by defaults, sources familiar with the matter said.

The central bank said last week it had held discussions with banks and asset management firms to discuss support for the economy and property sector, but it had not indicated that property developers had also been invited.

One of the sources told Reuters about a dozen developers attended the meeting, which was held on Tuesday. The source did not list the attendees by name.

China Evergrande Group and Kaisa Group were among those invited, two of the sources said. China Securities Journal reported that Zhongliang Holdings and Yango Group were among those which attended.

When asked for details, the central bank said it had met 18 national commercial banks and five asset management firms to discuss financial support for the economy, including maintaining orderly financing for developers and facilitating merger and acquisitions of distressed assets held by major property firms.

It did not say whether property firms also attended.

Kaisa declined to comment. Evergrande, Zhongliang and Yango did not respond to requests for comment.

Beijing has signalled there would be more government support for the embattled sector after bond payment defaults by Evergrande and other property developers rattled global markets.

But China's pledges to shore up the industry have done little to boost prospects, developers have said, as they struggle to access funding and many local government authorities remain reluctant to ease development rules.

Two developers which attended Tuesday's meetings said on Monday they were not very optimistic about prospects for securing more financing from banks. (Reporting by Clare Jim in Hong Kong and Shuyan Wang in Beijing; Editing by Edmund Blair)