The International Petroleum Investment Company, which is wholly owned by the Abu Dhabi government, yesterday said it had raised $5bn in syndicated loan facilities to help finance acquisitions made in a recent multibillion dollar spending spree.

The funds will primarily be used to help pay for its purchase of Nova Chemicals, a Canadian company, in a deal worth $2.26bn in February. They will also help pay for its acquisition of Santander’s 32.5 per cent stake and Union Fenosa’s 5 per cent holding in Cepsa for €3.3bn, which took IPIC’s total shareholding in the Spanish oil refiner to 47.1 per cent.