Sony Corp, one of the world's largest electronics manufacturing company, has sold its prized Tokyo office building, Sony City Osaki, to a Japanese real estate trust fund and Nippon Building Fund Inc. for $1.2 billion. The move is a part of its restructuring efforts.
The 25 story office building was built in March 2011. The office accommodated around 5000 employees. Nippon Buildings Fund will hold 60 percent stake in the building while the other fund (which requested to be kept anonymous) will hold the rest of the buildings interest.
However, Sony will not be vacating immediately. The company plans to carry out its local operations from the building at least for the next five years.
Sony is downsizing aggressively. The company recently agreed to sell its headquarters in Madison Avenue for $1.1 billion to a consortium of buyers. Sale of the Tokyo office is expected to rake in a profit of around $440 million. The company will include the profits in its fourth quarter results.
The sale is the most expensive office trade deal in Japan in the past four years. The year 2012 was tough on the company financially. Sony hopes to gather capital by selling off its real estate.
Check out the detailed impact, outlook and summary of the sale in Sony's press statement.
Earlier in February, Sony's shares slumped 10 percent after it reported a loss in the third quarter results. Total losses by the end of December fell 75 percent on the previous nine months. However, due to the weakening Yen, share prices of the company rose 42 percent.
"The company's stock has been bought because of a weakening yen, but unless it can show that its top line is also growing, it does not look very attractive." Hajime Nakajima from Iwai Cosmo Securities said to BBC.
