UPDATE 2-UAE's Union Properties gets offers for Ritz Carlton

* Talks with investors from West, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, UAE

* Two investors offer "negotiable price", eyes 1.5 bln dhs

* Analyst sees firm's stock worst-performing

(Adds analyst comment)

By Tamara Walid

DUBAI, March 10 (Reuters) - Dubai's Union Properties UPRO.DU has received "negotiable" offers for its Ritz Carlton hotel in Dubai, which the debt-laden firm is hoping to sell for about 1.5 billion dirhams ($408.4 million), its chairman said on Wednesday.

The third-largest developer in the Gulf Arab emirate has been hit by the global downturn, which has sent prices in Dubai's once-booming property sector tumbling some 50 percent from their peaks in 2008.

"There are different groups of people we are talking to ... Westerners, Qataris, Saudis and local companies with regards to selling the Ritz Carlton," chairman Khalid bin Kalban told Reuters by telephone. "We are waiting to get the right price ... one or two have given a negotiable price."

In February, the firm, which posted a third consecutive quarterly loss on provisions for contracting and property revaluation, said several investors were interested in the hotel located at a prime site in the Dubai International Financial Centre. [ID:nLDE6100KH]

The developer has 6.5 billion dirhams of outstanding debt, of which 2.8 billion had been rescheduled for payment to 2011 from 2009, with the remainder maturing in the long-term.

Union Properties is aiming for a soft opening in May for the 15-storey Ritz Carlton, Kalban said.

"In my opinion UP is in damage control mode right now," said Saud Masud, real estate and construction analysts at UBS. "I am not fully convinced if UP can recycle any asset sales and get the needed liquidity for continued developments."

Union Properties ended flat at 0.45 dirhams on Wednesday, just above Sunday's seven-year low.

Masud said the company's stock was the worst performing among firms UBS covered in the country, after Dubai World woes hit the market in November.

"It's been down dramatically since Dubai World debt announcement... stock is down 50 percent compared to DFM (which is) down 21 percent," said Masud. "It's a sign that DW issues will likely lead to growing financing challenges, the main concern for UP at this point."

Earlier on Wednesday, local daily Emirates Business reported two investors from Qatar and a non-resident Indian based in the United States were in talks for the hotel. [ID:nLDE62901C]

Union Properties' shares were flat at 0807 GMT.

Lender Emirates NBD ENBD.DU, majority-owned by the Dubai government, has a 48 percent stake in Union Properties. (Writing by John Irish, Editing by )