Tokyo Electric Power (Tepco), the electric utility serving the Tokyo metropolitan area, is planning to shed its investments in several data center businesses in an effort to raise cash to pay off liabilities expected to result from the nuclear accident at the Fukushima Daichi power plant that followed the earthquake and tsunami that hit Japan's eastern shore in March, according to a Reuters report that cited Japanese daily business news service Nikkei.

The company's biggest investment in the data center business is an 80% stake in At Tokyo ÔÇô a company that owns four data centers in the Tokyo metro. One of the facilities houses more than 1.5m sq ft of floor space. Also on the list of divestments is Tepco's 8% stake in KDDI and a 5% stake in Recruit.

Reuters cited Nikkei in saying the above divestments and sale of other stock and real estate Tepco owns were not likely to raise enough cash to cover its liabilities, which could run as high as trillions of Japanese yen.

The sale of Tepco's At Tokyo stake is expected to bring about 150bn yen into the company's coffers. The company is expecting to raise about 200bn yen through the sale of its KDDI stake and about 30bn yen from selling its stake in Recruit.

Nippon Telegraph and Telephone (NTT) is a potential buyer for At Tokyo stock, and KDDI and Recruit are reportedly considering buying their respective stock from Tepco themselves.

The Japanese government has also reportedly suggested that the utility sell one of its power plants to help settle the liabilities.

Tepco got into the data center and IT business following deregulation of the energy market, which introduced some competition to the utility space, according to Reuters and Nikkei.