STD Banco Santander, S.A. Sponsored Adr (Spain)

By Carlos Lopez Perea and David Roman

MADRID--Spanish renewable energy and engineering firm Abengoa SA (ABG.MC) Thursday said it has signed a deal with its creditors to receive a 106 million euro ($115.8 million) loan that it will use to keep operations running even as it stays under creditor protection.

Abengoa, which filed for protection last month, said in a regulatory filing it must give back the loan to the creditor banks--including Banco Santander SA and CaixaBank SA--before March 17, 2016. The loan is guaranteed by Abengoa's shares in its Abengoa Yield PLC unit.

The cash-strapped company has been involved in negotiations with lenders for months, and has hired Lazard, a Swiss bank, as an advisor to craft a plan that it will present to creditors Jan. 18.

Abengoa reported gross financial debt of EUR8.9 billion in the third quarter. That figure swells to EUR16.9 billion when including EUR2.1 billion the company has in what are known as confirming lines--funds it owes to its suppliers--and EUR5.9 billion of debt the company has in subsidiaries it said could potentially be sold, according to calculations made by the analysts at Exane BNP Paribas.

If Abengoa doesn't find a way out of its predicament, it could be the largest bankruptcy case in the country's history.

The company is one of the world's top builders of power lines transporting energy across Latin America and a top engineering and construction business, making renewable-energy power plants in places from Kansas to the U.K.

The latest round of Abengoa's negotiations with creditors began after Spanish investment firm Gonvarri Corporacion Financiera canceled a plan to inject around EUR350 million into the Seville, Spain-based company.

Write to David Roman at david.roman@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

December 24, 2015 10:43 ET (15:43 GMT)

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