Sony posted its first positive financial results since 2008 this month, and next stage of its financial rebuilding sees it seek to raise 150 billion yen (around $1.5 billion) in order to pay off maturing debts and invest in technology and equipment.
The electronics and entertainment giant aims to raise the capital by selling bonds to Japanese retail investors. The bonds have a five-year maturity rate and are priced to to yield 0.8 percent to 1.4 percent growth over the period, according to a filing [PDF] and details reported by Bloomberg.
The bonds will be issued on June 19 in what is the first time that Sony has targeted individual investors. The initiative follows a similar strategy from operator SoftBank, which is raising capital as it waits to close out a deal to acquire Sprint in the US. Both strategies are aimed at capitalizing on favorable exchange rates.
Sony raised the same amount — 150 billion yen — when it last sold notes in November 2012, and today’s announcement comes as the firm continues to push its rebuilding process forward, having streamlined its business considerably since Kazuo Hirai took up the reins as CEO last year.
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Initiatives undertaken to cut costs include: decoupling its Sony Ericsson joint venture; selling off its chemical products businesses for $730 million and offices in Tokyo for $1.2 billion and New York for $1.1 billion; divesting shareholdings in a number of companies — including a 13% stake in DeNA for $470 million— and cutting employee head count by 10,000 worldwide, 1,000 of which were in Japan.
Headline image via Toshifumi Kitamura / Getty Images
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