Tepco to ask $12b from gov't on fears of bankruptcy

Good thing the government is keen to help the company that supplies power to 29m customers in Japan.

According to a Bloomberg report citing Nikkei, Tokyo Electric Power Co. will strive to cut costs by 240 billion yen and raise 400 billion yen from asset sales by the end of March.

Bloomberg noted that the aid will be the first disbursement from the Nuclear Damage Liability Facilitation Fund that was set up last month. Tepco and the fund have been drafting a business plan to pave the way for government support for the utility, which may have to pay 4.5 trillion yen in compensation to residents and businesses hurt by the disaster by March 2013, said Bloomberg.

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