Dubai World’s creditors will respond to a proposal to restructure $24.8bn in debt within weeks, said the chief executive officer of Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank, one of the state-owned company’s biggest lenders.

“We owe it to Dubai World to get back to them officially,” Ala’a Eraiqat told reporters in Abu Dhabi. “There is a set deadline in weeks.”

Dubai World, one of the emirate’s three main state-owned holding companies, and its property unit, Nakheel, are seeking to renegotiate their borrowings after the global credit crisis battered Dubai’s real estate market and left the emirate’s companies unable to raise new debt.

arabianbusiness.com