SAO PAULO: A group of 12 banks arranged on Wednesday a loan worth 11.2 billion reais ($5.1 billion) aimed at helping Brazil's struggling electricity distributors cope with the impact of dry weather, the Finance Ministry said in a statement.

In the statement, the ministry said the loan will go to privately-owned industry clearinghouse CCEE. Under the terms of the loan, CCEE, which buys and sells electricity in the spot market, will subsequently funnel the proceeds from the loan into the coffers of power distributors.

The group of banks includes: Banco Bradesco SA ; Ita? Unibanco Holding Sa ; Banco Santander Brasil SA ; Grupo BTG Pactual SA ; Citibank ; JPMorgan Chase & Co ; HSBC Holdings Plc ; Banco Votorantim SA ; Credit Suisse Group AG ; Bank of America Corp ; Goldman Sachs Group Inc and state-run lenders Banco do Brasil SA and Caixa Econ?mica Federal SA, the statement added.