Avista Corp., of Spokane, has secured a $90 million loan from Union Bank N.A., of San Francisco, the company disclosed in a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission earlier this month.

Avista says in the filing that it plans to use the net proceeds from the loan to refinance $50 million in bonds that mature in December 2013 and to repay a portion of the borrowings outstanding under the company's $400 million line of credit, as well as for general corporate purposes.

The term-loan agreement carries an interest rate of 0.84 percent and is due Aug. 14, 2016.

In connection with the pricing on the term loan, Avista says in the filing that it settled interest-rate swap contracts and received total proceeds of $2.9 million.

The term-loan agreement includes language that doesn't permit the ratio of consolidated total debt to consolidated total capitalization in Avista to be greater than 65 percent at the end of any fiscal quarter.

Earlier this month, Avista reported second-quarter net income of $25.7 million, or 43 cents a diluted share, up from earnings of $18.1 million, or 31 cents a share, in the year-earlier period.

Scott Morris, Avista's chairman, president, and CEO, said in a press release at that time that both the utility and the company's energy-management subsidiary, Ecova, performed above expectations.

Based on second-quarter results, Avista said it still expects its consolidated earnings for the year to be in the range of $1.70 to $1.90 per diluted share.