Qatar hires UBS for possible $3 bln VTB deal-sources

DUBAI/LONDON Feb 26 (Reuters) - Qatar's sovereign wealth fund has hired UBS to advise on a possible $3 billion investment in Russian state-owned bank VTB, two people with direct knowledge of the matter told Reuters on Tuesday.

VTB is working on a capital increase with Citigroup, the sources said.

"Talks are very advanced", one of the people said in regard to Qatar's discussions with VTB. A deal could still fail on price disagreement since Qatar Holding wants a cheap deal while the Russian government, which owns 75 percent of VTB, is concerned to sell down at a decent price.

Qatar Holding declined to comment. UBS and Citigroup, were not immediately available for comment.