Japan's Sony Corp plans to raise nearly $4 billion via new shares and bonds to plough into image sensors as it reinvents itself as a niche component maker, pulling back from consumer goods like TVs that dragged it into losses.
In Sony's first new share issue in 26 years, the firm said on Tuesday it expects to raise 321 billion yen ($2.62 billion) from a public stock offering after a rally that has seen its market value double in a year. It will raise a further 119 billion yen from a convertible bond issue to fund a boost in sensor output capacity at its advanced plants in Japan.
Worth close to a tenth of its current market value, the share issue provides the clearest signal yet that Chief Executive Kazuo Hirai is prioritizing the sensor business to anchor Sony's turnaround. The firm has long been plagued by losses in branded goods like smartphones, hit by fierce competition from both cheaper rivals in Asia and industry giants like Apple Inc and Samsung Electronics Co.
Photo Credit // REUTERS/YUYA SHINO