Investment banks underwriting close to $9.5bn (€6.2bn) of acquisition financing for Netherlands-based plastic and chemicals group LyondellBasell have tranched the loans into more easily sellable chunks, in a move expected to be replicated in other deals to ensure their success.

Goldman Sachs, Merrill Lynch, Royal Bank of Scotland, UBS and Citigroup have started to market the loans to investors in New York and London over the past couple of days to drum up demand for a deal that will provide the freshest test of appetite for leveraged transactions since the $7.25bn loan sale for Harrah's Entertainment in January.