Egyptian General Petroleum Corporation (EGPC) has signed a $1bn loan deal with a group of local and international banks.

Bankers in Egypt say the deal was done very quietly, with the banks arranging the deal only contacting a small number of key relationship banks for EGPC, the state-owned oil company. The deal is split between several different tenors.

Bankers in Egypt say the deal was done very quietly, with the banks arranging the deal only contacting a small number of key relationship banks for EGPC

The deal is the second time that the firm has raised a large loan in the past 12 months, after signing a $2bn five-year loan deal in July 2010, that is being used to fund export agreements (MEED 16:7:10).

That deal was priced at 275 basis points above the London interbank offered rate, with banks offered an additional 150 basis points for lending $225m.

The latest deal was signed in late December and the US’ JP Morgan and Morgan Stanley acted as bookrunners.

Other lenders on the deal included France’s BNP Paribas, Credit Agricole, Natixis, Societe Generale; the UK’s HSBC; National Bank of Abu Dhabi; the local Banque Misr; Germany’s Deutsche Bank and WestLB; Denmark’s ING; Italy’s Intesa Sanpaulo; and Japan’s Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation and Mitsuibishi UFJ.