Byblos Bank of Lebanon will hold a presentation in London on 5 September for its forthcoming Eurobond issue. The presentation will be hosted by SBC Warburg and Beirut finance house Lebanon Invest, which are co-managing the issue.

The issue, which follows a $60 million, three-year offering by Credit Libanais (CL) in June, comes in the context of Lebanese banks' efforts to diversify their sources of funding away from short-term deposits.

Details on the pricing and tenor of the Byblos Bank bond were not available as MEED went to press, though it is expected to be priced slightly higher than the CL bond's 320 basis points over US treasuries.

SBC Warburg and Lebanon Invest are also co-operating on a $100 million country fund to take stakes in Lebanese businesses. The fund is due to be launched in September (MEED 19:7:96).