Commercial Bank of Dubai (CBD), the emirate's fourth-largest lender by market value, is in talks with banks to extend maturity on a $400 million loan due in September, it has said.

CBD, 20 per cent owned by the Dubai government, is negotiating rescheduling the syndicated term loan facility which nine banks participated but the bank did not provide details of the new terms under offer, according to a report in our sister newspaper Gulf Daily News.

Syndicated banks include Lloyds TSB, BNP Paribas, Commerzbank, Standard Chartered, UniCredit and Bank of New York Mellon.

'The nine relationship banks that we are in talks with are very happy with the strong risk profile of our balance sheet,' said CBD chief executive Peter Baltussen.

One banker on the existing syndicate confirmed that talks with CBD had taken place, although he would not elaborate any further.

Government-linked entities in Dubai have been faced with the need to restructure or reschedule a raft of debt maturities as the global financial slowdown hit the emirate's property and banking sectors hard.

Investment Corporation of Dubai, the emirate's investment vehicle, and CBD shareholder, has a $4 billion loan repayment due in November.