Sony shares surge after Reuters reports Third Point building stake again

[TOKYO] Sony Corp shares surged more than 7 per cent in early trade on Tuesday after Reuters reported that Daniel Loeb's hedge fund, Third Point LLC, was again building a stake in the Japanese electronics conglomerate to push for changes.

Third Point, which has about US$14.5 billion in assets under management, is raising a dedicated investment vehicle to target between US$500 million and US$1 billion in capital, so it can buy more Sony shares, people familiar with the matter said.

A Sony spokesman declined to comment on the report.

Sony shares rallied to a three-week high at the start of Tokyo trade, recovering from a slump last month triggered by concerns that its turnaround in the past few years had lost momentum.

The company had a market value of 6.1 trillion yen (S$74.2 billion) as at Monday's close.

Third Point's campaign for changes at Sony, its second in six years, comes as investors are looking for the company's next profit pillar amid signs its gaming business is slowing and as its popular PlayStation 4 console nears the end of its lifecycle.

The fund wants Sony to explore options for some of its business units, including its movie studio, which the fund believes has attracted takeover interest from the likes of Amazon.com Inc and Netflix Inc, the sources said.

REUTERS