T Rowe may buy 26 pct in India's UTI Asset - paper

MUMBAI, July 10 (Reuters) - U.S. firm T. Rowe Price (TROW.O) may buy a 26 percent stake in India's UTI Asset Management for 6.5-7 billion rupees ($134-144 million), the Economic Times newspaper said, citing two unnamed sources it said were familiar with the development.

The deal, if it were to finally go through, would value India's oldest mutual fund house between 25 to 28 billion rupees or 4-5 percent of its assets, the paper said on Friday.

A T Rowe official told the paper she had no comment. UTI's Chief Marketing Officer said the stake sale was on and he was hopeful it would be completed shortly, repeating a standard a line of the firm for the last 6 months.

UTI Mutual Fund officials could not be reached for immediate comments. ($1=48.6 rupees) (Reporting by Nishant Kumar; editing by )