-- Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TYO:9501) has drawn interest from Blackstone, Apollo Global Management, and SoftBank (TYO:9984) for a planned capital partnership that could involve external funding exceeding 1 trillion yen, according to a Nikkei report on Thursday.
Citing people familiar with the discussions, the publication said global private equity firms are viewed as strong contenders to provide such an investment.
Proposals were submitted before TEPCO's end-of-March deadline, the news agency added, allowing the utility to begin screening potential partners.
The power company intends to spend the coming months refining possible deal structures and narrowing down the candidate list, the report noted.
TEPCO has not replied to MTNewswire queries at press time.
(Market Chatter news is derived from conversations with market professionals globally. This information is believed to be from reliable sources but may include rumor and speculation. Accuracy is not guaranteed.)