Tokyo Electric Power (Tepco) announced Thursday that its unit TEPCO Power Grid will sell up to 26 million shares in its affiliate Kandenko as part of broader restructuring efforts aimed at strengthening its financial position and supporting growth.
Based on Kandenko’s Thursday closing price, the sale is valued at roughly 150 billion yen ($979 million) and forms part of Tepco’s plan, unveiled Monday, to raise about 200 billion yen over the next three years through asset sales. Proceeds will fund capital investments to ensure stable power supply and support growth areas such as green energy and digital transformation.
At an earnings briefing, Tepco’s Representative Executive Vice President Hiroyuki Yamaguchi said the company is also considering selling shares in other affiliates to comply with corporate governance requirements, but he provided no further details.
Kandenko separately announced a secondary offering of up to 26.187 million shares, with the indicative price range to be set between February 16 and 19. TEPCO Power Grid, which currently holds 46% of Kandenko, said its stake will not drop below 33.4% after the sale.
Tepco reported a net loss of 663 billion yen for the nine months ended December 31, largely due to one-off costs linked to preparatory work for removing fuel debris at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant. The utility forecasts a net loss of 641 billion yen for the fiscal year ending March.
The company also halted the No. 6 reactor at its Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear station last Friday to investigate a malfunction, marking Tepco’s first nuclear restart attempt since the 2011 Fukushima disaster. Yamaguchi said the cause of the malfunction is still under investigation and that the delayed restart will have minimal impact on this fiscal year’s earnings, as it had only been marginally factored into projections.