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NEW YORK (AP) - Kodak says it has reached an agreement to borrow $793 million, an important step in letting it leave bankruptcy protection in the first half of next year.

The printing and photography company would borrow the money from a private investment firm, Centerbridge Partners, and the lending arms of asset management firm The Blackstone Group and banks JP Morgan Chase & Co. and UBS AG.

The deal is contingent on Kodak being able to sell its patent portfolio for at least $500 million. The company has been trying to sell that asset for more than a year. In a statement, Kodak says it is "confident it will achieve" that requirement.

The loan would consist of $476 million in new loans and $317 million in roll-overs of old debt. There's a provision to convert $567 million into "exit financing," a prerequisite for emerging from bankruptcy protection.

Kodak filed for bankruptcy protection in January after struggling to adapt to the world of digital photography.