(Bloomberg) -- Light SA, a Brazilian utility that filed for bankruptcy protection last year, released a new version of its judicial recovery plan outlining capital increase of 1.5 billion reais amid ongoing negotiations with creditors to restructure its debt.

The troubled Rio utility said in a filing that 1 billion reais will come from key shareholders, including Nelson Tanure, Ronaldo Cézar Coelho and Carlos Alberto Da Veiga Sicupira, who own 50% of the company. The company also announced the conversion of debt securities into new shares and the expansion of the group of creditors who will receive full payment.

The conversion price will be based on the 60-day average of the quotations prior to presentation of the new plan, with the warrant of 2 shares for every 1, according to the filing. 

The new plan expands the number of creditors by 3,000 to 28,000, which is equivalent to 60% of investors. All creditors who hold up to 30,000 reais in debt would be paid in full in 90 days after the plan’s approval.

In addition, the new plan also converts up to 40% of credits into company shares via convertible debentures, though it’s limited to 2.2 billion reais. The remainder will be remunerated by IPCA plus 4% per year, with an eight year amortization. 

Light filed for bankruptcy protection in May, after warning that government regulators weren’t authorizing it to charge customers enough to pay its obligations. The company faced a series of obstacles, including the fact that more than one-quarter of the power it was sending out on the grid was being lost to theft, costing the company around $200 million a year. 

The 120-year-old utility had also said it was struggling from high interest rates, customers that were delinquent on their bills, lower revenue from big clients and money set aside to pay for a court decision that forced it to return tax credits to consumers.

The proposals submitted by creditors so far “did not take into account the company’s real investment needs,” which Light said are expected to increase especially when taking into account the new rules for concession renewal. 

“Light chose to present a new plan, which meets the demands presented by creditors and guarantees compliance with sectoral and society commitments,” the company said in a statement.

--With assistance from Giovanna Bellotti Azevedo.

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