Barclays to hand Qatar deal documents over to UK's SFO - Bloomberg

LONDON, Feb 4 (Reuters) - Barclays Plc (LSE: BARC.L - news) has agreed to hand internal documents over to British prosecutors, potentially ending a drawn-out investigation into a 2008 fundraising involving Middle Eastern investors, Bloomberg reported on Thursday.

Barclays has been under investigation since 2012 by regulators including Britain's Serious Fraud Office (SFO) over two emergency cash injections made mostly by Qatari investors during the 2007-9 financial crisis.

The bank is currently in the process of handing over to the SFO communication documents from the fundraising that it had previously said contained legal advice protected by attorney-client privilege, Bloomberg said, citing four people with knowledge of the matter.

Barclays and the SFO both declined to comment when contacted by Reuters.

The 12 billion pounds ($17.6 billion) Barclays received in 2008 saved the bank from the state bailouts rivals RBS (LSE: RBS.L - news) and Lloyds had to accept.

($1 = 0.6832 pounds) (Reporting by Richa Naidu and Rachel Armstrong; Editing by Mark Potter)