Egyptian General Petroleum Corporation (EGPC) has scaled back the loans it will take from each bank on a $2bn deal it is currently arranging because of the strong response from lenders.

EGPC had asked banks to commit $200m to the deal, but following the response from lenders those loans have been scaled back to around $90m. The size of the scale back is a significant indicator of the appetite for banks to book news deals in emerging markets.

One banker involved in the deal says, “Banks are interested in emerging market deals at the moment, especially as there are not many new deals from the Middle East, so this has got a very strong response.”

The deal pays a margin of 275 basis points above the London interbank offered rate (Libor) and is being arranged by the US’ JP Morgan and the local National Bank of Egypt. The two banks started seeking commitments for the deal in early May, and asked for commitments to be given by mid June.

The deal is a pre-export loan, where banks provide funding for the delivery of exports to a pre-agreed buyer. The debt has a tenor of five years. The state-owned oil company appointed the two banks to raise $2bn in January, after completing a similar $900m deal in August 2009.