TEPCO to repay (small) part of debt to 3 banks

May 3, 2014

TEPCO to repay 150 billion yen in post-Fukushima loans

http://mainichi.jp/english/english/newsselect/news/20140503p2g00m0dm020000c.html

TOKYO (Kyodo) -- Tokyo Electric Power Co. will repay 150 billion yen in debt -- part of the emergency loans it received in the wake of the 2011 Fukushima nuclear crisis -- to three major Japanese banks in December, bank officials said Friday.

The three are the Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ, Mizuho Bank and Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp.

The utility known as TEPCO received roughly 2 trillion yen in loans from the three and other banks, mostly without collateral, to deal with the nuclear crisis.

Following the repayment, TEPCO will be screened to receive future loans from the banks.

In April, TEPCO repaid 4 billion yen in emergency loans to the government-backed Development Bank of Japan, with a further 4 billion yen payment planned in October.

But the utility still faces difficulties in procuring funds on its own. It aims to restart issuing corporate bonds in fiscal 2016, but it is still uncertain if it can do so as its business operations will remain unstable, given the suspension of its Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear plant.