Qatar may invest as much as $3.5bn in Russian bank

Qatar's sovereign wealth fund is in advanced talks with Russia's second-largest bank VTB about injecting between $3 billion and $3.5 billion into the banking giant, the Telegraph reported. VTB will likely issue the Qataris with $1.5 billion of new equity and $1.5 billion of mandatory convertible bonds under the structure of the deal, the daily said citing sources. The deal may be announced by next week, the paper said. Bankers from Goldman Sachs and Citigroup are thought to be working with VTB on the capital raising, according to the Telegraph. VTB declined to comment on the report when contacted by Reuters. Representatives for Qatar's sovereign wealth fund were not immediately available for comment.