Dubai Aluminium (Dubal) has held talks with banks about raising a loan to help fund its general operations, the first time the firm has commissioned such a facility in years, three banking sources said on Thursday. Talks are at a preliminary stage to sound out banks about what Dubal could raise in the loan market, the sources said on condition of anonymity because the information is not public, according to Gulf Today. They said no formal invitation for banks to participate has been sent out, nor have arranging banks been put in place. Dubal merged last year with Abu Dhabi’s Emirates Aluminium (Emal) to create Emirates Global Aluminium (EGA), the world’s fifth-largest aluminium company with an enterprise value of about $15 billion.