Qatar National Bank (QNB) has signed a $1.8bn syndicated loan that will be used to refinance a $1.85bn loan that matured in late July.

The deal was increased in size from $1.5bn after a strong response from banks, and pays an interest rate of 1 per cent above the London interbank offered rate (Libor), QNB said in a statement.

Five banks were initially appointed to underwrite and arrange the deal, the UK’s HSBC and Standard Chartered, the US’ JP Morgan, Germany’s Deutsche Bank, and Japan’s Bank of Tokyo Mitsubishi. Other lenders on the transaction are almost all international banks, including banks from China and Singapore.