Tepco’s building for sale in Minato-ku

As Tepco’s financial situation worsens rapidly, they are being forced to sell off more real estate in order to pay for the growing compensation to victims of the nuclear power plant disaster.

In September 2011, Tepco began selling off some of their large real estate holdings. The real estate included company dormitories and retreats. So far, Tepco has sold 40 properties for a total value of 6 billion Yen (75 million USD).

However, the costs to decommission the Fukushima reactors and the fuel expenses for the thermal power plants have exceeded initial estimates, and the company has been forced to find additional ways to raise funds. At a company meeting on February 27, it was decided to sell between 70 and 80% of their current real estate holdings during 2012.

The additional properties include land surrounding transformer substations, and part of their own office building in Minato-ku. Tepco had originally planned to raise 247.2 billion Yen (3.1 billion USD) over the next 10 years, but growing anger from businesses to be hit by Tepco’s planned hike in electricity costs has led them to dispose of their properties sooner than expected.

The troubled electric company also began appealing to major trust companies last month in a last ditched effort to sell more than 300 properties.

Tepco has been having difficulty in obtaining additional capital injections from the Japanese government and financial institutions. The government has been strongly requesting that Tepco sell more of their assets.

Sources:
TBS, February 23, 2012.
Jiji Press, February 27, 2012.

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