City AM reported that Arab Investments (AI) has asked some of the project’s 60 original investors for extra cash to help complete the skyscraper on Bishopsgate as banks still baulk at lending to speculative building projects.

AI has secured £330m from investors so far – enough to complete just three floors of the proposed 64-storey where Byrne Bros is pouring the concrete.

City AM said that HSBC had agreed in principle to provide a £600m loan to complete the £1bn project several months ago, but pressured AI to secure a pre-let tenant to take up at least 300,000 square feet in the building before it would release the funds.

Sources said the bank might offer a smaller loan if AI can lock down a pre-let deal for more than 150,000 feet.

AI’s managing director Khalid Affara said it made sense to return to its original investors rather than accept the terms.

He said: “We are currently in discussions with the banks about the major investor SEDCO behind the project, with other investors, injecting a substantial further equity investment so that we can dramatically reduce the amount of debt necessary for the Pinnacle to be completed.

“If this offer is accepted then the full works will be approved much more quickly and without completing a major pre-let prior to development finance getting into the project.”