Chubu Electric Power

[RBM]

For those following the fortunes - and misfortunes - of Japanese Utility companies, I thought the following BBC article regarding Chubu Electric Power may be of interest. Chubu Electric is no where near as badly affected by recent events as Tepco but this Nagoya headquartered utility company was "strongly encouraged" to suspend operations at its key Hamaoka Nuclear facility and has seen its share price suffer like other Japanese utilities.

Interesting that the purpose of the loan mentioned in the BBC article is cited as procurement of alternative energy sources - presumeably this will be largely Liquefied Natural Gas, LNG . Chubu Electric was trading at ~ ¥ 2,200 pre-Tsunami, dropped to as low as ¥ 1,061 in the immediate aftermath of the Tsunami but has partially rebounded upwards theeeafter - it is trading at ¥ 1,447 at the time of me hitting the ivories.

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BBC Article - Japan's Chubu Electric gets 100bn yen emergency loan

Chubu Electric, Japan's third biggest utility, will receive an emergency loan to purchase alternative sources of power, as the country continues to face a shortage. The company will get a 100bn yen loan ($1.24bn; £775m) , it confirmed. Chubu was forced to shut down its Hamaoka power station amid fears of nuclear accidents. An earthquake and tsunami on 11 March caused a nuclear crisis at Fukushima, run by Tokyo Electric Power (Tepco).

Nuclear fears

Tepco, the country's largest utility, is still struggling to bring four damaged nuclear reactors under control. In May, Prime Minister Naoto Kan requested Chubu close its Hamaoka plant citing the high chance of a quake in the region.

There continues to be a strong anti-nuclear sentiment in the country. Chubu agreed to the suspension but asked for public assistance to deal with the costs associated with it. The emergency loan will be distributed through the Development Bank of Japan, according to Banri Kaieda, the minister of economy, trade and industry. The money is to help Chubu finance the purchase of power sources such as gas, in order to make up for the shortfall from closing down the Hamaoka station, Mr Kaieda told reporters when announcing the loan.

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For the contrarians, Japanese Utilities are worth a look, IMHO.

[Thriftville]

This nuclear disaster is similar to the BP oil spill in the following ways:

1. TEPCO and BP share price are hit badly after negative news coverage

2. Their share price may drop to very attractive price, due to speculators shorting the shares for quick profit. Also, there's a high chance that the companies may face huge financial liability

3. To profit from disaster, it would be easier to buy companies that are not so directly hit by the disaster. In BP's case, Anardarko (APC) and Transocean (RIG) are indirectly liable for the disaster. They are also responsible for the spill, but if you study the whole accident closely, their potential liability is much lesser than BP, who made most of the major decisions. APC and RIG's share price collapsed by 50% or more during the peak of media coverage.

In TEPCO's case, companies like Chubu and Kansai are quite innocent. They might be make liable to contribute some funds to help TEPCO but they do not have to bear the compensation, rebuild, reconstruction cost. But their share price drop by 50% too... which I believe is it work of speculators.


Please feel free to comment on my views.