Greek power utility PPC gets 200 mln euro loan to help repay debt

Greece's main power utility Public Power Corp. (PPC) has secured a 200 million euro ($217 million) bond loan from the country's main lenders to refinance debt, it said on Tuesday.

Unpaid bills, which have reached 2.2 billion euros since a debt crisis engulfed Greece in 2010, have squeezed PPC's cash reserves. The two-year loan will help the utility repay a bond of similar size that matures on May 1.

PPC, which is 51 percent owned by the state, also has several coupon payments totalling 340 million euros that fall due by the end of the year.

The new credit facility was extended by National Bank, Piraeus Bank, Eurobank, Alpha Bank and Attica Bank against collateral provided by PPC. [Reuters]