Sunday, Nov 22, 2009

(This story was originally published Friday.)

LONDON (Dow Jones)--The Lebanese Republic has hired Bank of Beirut, Citigroup Inc. and Societe Generale de Banque au Liban as lead managers for its forthcoming dollar-denominated benchmark bond issue, people familiar with the deal said Friday.

The issuer is rated B2 by Moody's Investors Service and B- by Standard & Poor's Corp. and Fitch Ratings Corp.

The deal will be issued later this year, subject to market conditions.

-By Michael Wilson, Dow Jones Newswires; 44 20 7842 9349, michael.wilson@dowjones.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

22-11-09 0348GMT