Dubai's DP World is in talks with banks for a $1-billion syndicated loan to replace its existing $3-billion deal that matures in October, bankers said.

The global ports operator is self-arranging the deal, with pricing within the 200 basis points (bps) bracket, the bankers added.

No one at DP World was immediately available to comment.

'The deal will get done and it will be well supported. A bit of price-finding will need to be done as DP World want to pay less than the banks do. But, it is a good credit and they have plenty of time before the maturity to get it done,' one London-based broker said.

The five-year deal could provide a useful regional pricing benchmark after several months of muted syndicated loan activity across the Middle East.

It could also help other Middle Eastern borrowers gauge which international lenders are still keen to lend, especially Europeans grappling with US dollar availability.

Dubai World's original $3 billion loan was arranged by Barclays, Citi, Deutsche Bank and Royal Bank of Scotland in 2007 and paid a margin of 45 bps over LIBOR.

DP World aims to boost its capacity to 100 million twenty-foot equivalent container units by 2020, after hitting 55 million units in 2011.-Reuters