Dubai Holding, owned by the ruler of the emirate, is in informal talks to sell its 41-percent stake in Oman National Investment Corp Holding (ONIC), three sources familiar with the matter said.

The talks are currently in preliminary stages and a written mandate has not been agreed upon, the sources said.

"There has been attempts by Dubai Holding to sell (its) ONIC stake, but there is no formal mandate yet," said one source who did not want to be identified.

Dubai Holding bought a 35-percent stake in the Omani firm in 2007 from Shuaa Capital through its investment arm, Dubai Financial, a unit of Dubai Group.

Dubai has been at the centre of a debt storm since its flagship conglomerate, Dubai World, rocked global markets on Nov. 25 when it asked creditors for a standstill agreement on $26 billion. The company is in talks with creditors.

Dubai Holding has about $1.9 billion of debt maturing in the first half of 2010. A spokeswoman for Dubai Group declined to comment. - Reuters