Sony sets 300b yen share sale price 3% below close

[TOKYO] Sony Corp said it expects to raise as much as 300 billion yen (S$3.3 billion) after setting a price for new common shares it is selling to raise money for boosting chipmaking capacity.

The shares will be offered at 3,420.5 yen apiece to investors, the electronics maker and entertainment producer said Monday in a statement. That's about 3 per cent less than Monday's closing price. The company is also offering 120 billion yen in bonds due in 2022 and convertible to shares at 5,008 yen.

Sony President Kazuo Hirai has said that after years of losses and restructuring, the company is beginning a growth phase. He pledged "aggressive investments" into areas including image sensors for smartphone cameras, video game network services and virtual reality gear.

The company had said on June 30 it planned to raise about 321.5 billion yen in the sale of common stock and about 120 billion yen in convertible bonds.

Sony is quadrupling spending on semiconductors to 290 billion yen this year to meet surging demand for the sensors used in Apple Inc. and Samsung Electronics Co smartphones. Sony expects sales in the business to climb as much as 62 per cent to 1.5 trillion yen in three years.

Mizuho Securities is underwriting the sale, with Daiwa Securities, Goldman Sachs International, JP Morgan Securities, Mitsubishi UFJ Morgan Stanley Securities and four others managing.

Sony's operating profit will reach 500 billion yen in the year ending March 2018, the company has forecast in its mid-term plan. That's the highest since 520 billion yen in 1998.

REUTERS