UPDATE 1-Toshiba to sell real estate unit stake for $750 mln

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TOKYO, July 22 (Reuters) - Japan's Toshiba Corp (6502.T) plans to sell a majority stake in its real estate unit to Nomura Real Estate (3231.T) for $750 million, as it seeks to ease its hurting semiconductor business.

Toshiba, the world's No. 2 maker of NAND flash memory, said on Tuesday it would sell a 65 percent stake in Toshiba Building Co and that the 80 billion yen sale would yield a roughly 70 billion yen profit.

That would be a windfall for a company that analysts said is likely to swing to an operating loss in April-June, hurt by tumbling chip prices.

Toshiba is under pressure from losses on the PlayStation 3 microchip production facilities it bought earlier this year from Sony Corp (6758.T) and steep price declines in NAND flash memory, they said.

"A recovery in NAND and system chips is going to take some time," said Mitsubishi UFJ Securities analyst Yukihiko Shimada, who lowered his rating on the firm to "3" from "2".

Prior to Tuesday's announcement, Shimada had estimated Toshiba would fall 70 billion yen short of its full-year pretax profit forecast of 260 billion yen.

Under the deal, Toshiba will reduce its stake in the unit to 35 percent from 99.75 percent, with the sale to be completed by the end of this year, the two companies said in a statement.

The sprawling electronics group has been eager to cut its exposure to an uncertain real estate market, as it focuses its resources on its energy operations, digital products and semiconductors.

The deal follows the sale of Toshiba's Ginza Toshiba building in 2007.

The unit, Toshiba Building Co, manages shopping complexes and condominiums as well as Toshiba group offices and employee housing.

It had sales of 42.8 billion yen and posted an operating profit of 12.08 billion yen for the year ended in March.

Before the announcement, shares of Toshiba closed up 0.1 percent and those of Nomura Real Estate rose 5.3 percent, against a 3 percent rise in the benchmark Nikkei average .N225. ($1=106.38 Yen) (Reporting by Mayumi Negishi and Mariko Katsumura; Editing by Chris Gallagher)