TEPCO sell-off to cover damages

From the Daily Yomiuri:

Tokyo Electric Power Co. has begun preparations to sell off assets, including company residences and recreation facilities, through four trust banks to raise money for compensation related to the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant crisis, it has been learned.

Initially, TEPCO intends to sell about 40 pieces of real estate for about 10 billion yen. Later, the utility will designate further assets to sell, coordinating with the government's TEPCO Management and Finance Investigation Committee, a third-party panel monitoring the company's restructuring efforts.

Eventually, the company hopes to raise about 600 billion yen through sales of real estate and stock.

According to sources, TEPCO will commission four trust banks to sell the assets. They are Mitsubishi UFJ Trust and Banking Corp., Mizuho Trust and Banking Co., The Chuo Mitsui Trust and Banking Co. and The Sumitomo Trust & Banking Co.

The utility will begin by selling employee residences in Setagaya and Meguro wards, Tokyo, and Ichihara, Chiba Prefecture; dormitories in Chiba's Chuo Ward and Sodegaura, Chiba Prefecture, and Konan Ward, Yokohama; recreation facilities in Atami, Shizuoka Prefecture, and in the Shukugo district of Utsunomiya. These assets are expected to be sold relatively easily.

The bidding for these assets is expected to take place from early to mid-October with winning bidders likely to take over the properties beginning in November.

It is important for TEPCO to raise money quickly to compensate people affected by the crisis at the Fukushima power plant. The firm's operating costs have also increased, as TEPCO, with its idled nuclear power plants, has to purchase fuel for thermal power generation.

TEPCO will sell its assets before beginning compensation payments in October. Originally, TEPCO planned to sell them around August, but coordination with the government committee took longer than expected, delaying the sales.

TEPCO plans to consider other assets it can sell over the next one or two years with a goal of raising about 100 billion yen.

Aside from real estate, the company plans to raise about 270 billion yen through securities and about 230 billion yen via the sale or liquidation of group companies.

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