Japan's top lenders including Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group, are in talks to provide up to 2 trillion yen (€17.3 billion) in emergency loans to Tokyo Electric Power to help the operator of a stricken nuclear plant rebuild its power supply network.

SMFG, the utility's main lender, is expected to provide more than 500 billion yen in loans, making it the biggest single lender in the emergency financing, said the sources, who were not authorised to speak publicly about the matter.

Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group and Mizuho Financial Group are considering loans of 200-500 billion yen each, the sources said. Sumitomo Trust and Banking and other major trust banks are also expected to offer funds.

The banks could begin providing the loans by the end of this month, the sources said.

Tokyo Electric's Fukushima Daiichi power plant was damaged in the powerful earthquake and tsunami on March 11th, and engineers are working to restore cooling functions and limit the release of radiation.

The company has around 5.8 trillion yen in outstanding debt.

Yesterday, Tepco's five-year credit default swaps fell 61 basis points from Monday's close to 245 bps, according to Markit.

The CDS reached a record high of 373 bps on March 17th, as engineers struggled to salvage the Fukushima plant.

Reuters