Halifax was the lead lender on the project with total exposure of £26m.

"Once we received their commitment for $125 million as the lead lender, we knew we could find the rest," Mr. Stern said.

Citibank is the lead lender for the loan.

Citicorp subsequently emerged as Paramount's lead lender, with a $1 billion initial commitment.

Citibank, a unit of Citigroup, would be the lead lender.

In addition, the board said that further documentation from the bidder's lead lender was needed.

Citibank and Chase Manhattan Bank, the lead lenders, said they had raised $3 billion but still needed to raise $4.2 billion more.

A spokesman for Citigroup, one of Finova's lead lenders, declined to comment.

Citibank, which issues a credit card tied to American's frequent-flier program, would be the lead lender.

Like other big German banks, it has been the lead lender to many of the biggest companies.