Tepco creditors agree to roll over loan

Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp and 27 other financial institutions have agreed to roll over a roughly 77 billion yen ($783 million) syndicated loan for Tokyo Electric Power Co due to mature at the end of the month, the Nikkei business daily reported on Saturday.
Tepco has lost $27 billion since the 2011 disaster at its Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, and faces massive liabilities as it decommissions the facility, compensates tens of thousands of residents forced to evacuate, and pays for decontamination of an area nearly the size of Connecticut. The SMBC-led group includes Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Bank, Gunma Bank, Chiba Bank, and a number of prefecture-based agricultural co-operatives. Tepco's major banks are prepared to provide 500 billion yen in financing in December - 200 billion yen in loan rollovers and 300 billion yen in new financing, a person involved in the talks told Reuters last month.