DUBAI: Commercial Bank of Qatar on Wednesday said it had signed a $1 billion, three-year loan for refinancing existing debt and for general funding purposes. The facility, which pays a margin of 85 basis points over the London interbank offered rate (LIBOR), will be used to refinance debt including the prepayment of a $600 million loan due in February 2016, the lender said in a bourse statement.

Citigroup and National Bank of Abu Dhabi acted as coordinators for the loan, while Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Commerzbank and HSBC were among the dozen other lenders joined the deal.

The transaction size was increased from the original $800 million target due to strong support from its relationship banks, the statement added.

Copyright Reuters, 2015