Oman Investment & Finance Co (OIFC) is in "initial stage" talks with one of the major shareholders of National Finance Co to buy a stake in the company, an OIFC official said on Sunday.

"We are at the initial stages of discussions with a major shareholder of National Finance Company to buy his stake in the company," K Kannan, secretary of the board of directors at OIFC told Reuters.

OIFC had issued a statement to the bourse earlier in the day saying the discussions are in preliminary stages.

Kannan declined to disclose the name of the shareholder or the amount of transaction involved.    

National Finance is one of the financing companies in Oman while OIFC is an utility billing and debt factoring firm. In January, OIFC said it plans to buy a majority stake in a money exchange firm, without naming the company.-Reuters