Bahrain’s Gulf Finance House has asked a group of over 30 banks to agree to a six-month extension on a $100m loan by 9 February.

The request follows a meeting between Gulf Finance House and the lenders on 2 February in which the Bahrain-based bank proposed to repay $200m of a $300m loan due on 10 February, and extend the remaining debt.

“There has only been a very short period of time given for the banks to respond to the extension but the approval has to be in place before the maturity date,” says a banker involved in the loan. “The meeting with the management went well and the chief executive’s presentation was well-received.”

Gulf Finance House was downgraded to CC by Standard & Poor’s on 3 February as a result of the problems the bank was facing repaying the $300m loan (MEED 03:02:10).