Sony plans $3 bln financial unit IPO on Oct 11
(For IPO news, data and diary, click on <JP/IPOMENU>)
(Adds details, background, share price)
TOKYO, Sept 4 (Reuters) - Sony Corp (6758.T) said it will list shares of its financial unit on the Tokyo Stock Exchange on Oct. 11, raising up to 361 billion yen ($3 billion) in Japan's largest initial public offering this year.
The IPO of Sony Financial Holdings, which oversees the group's online banking and insurance operations, is Sony's latest step to focus on its core operations, such as the electronics division which makes Bravia flat TVs and Vaio computers.
Proceeds from the listing are expected to allow Sony to pour more resources into such growth areas as the liquid crystal display (LCD) TV business, where it faces fierce competition from Samsung Electronics Co Ltd (005930.KS) and Sharp Corp (6753.T).
The financial unit has tentatively set an assumed IPO price of 415,000 yen per share and plans to sell 75,000 shares, increasing the total number of shares outstanding to 2.175 million.
In addition, Sony, which is in the final year of a three-year revival plan under Chief Executive Howard Stringer, will offer up to 795,000 existing shares, including an overallotment chunk of 70,000 shares.
The assumed price will value the whole of the financial unit at about 903 billion yen.
The financial unit posted an operating profit of 84.1 billion yen in the year ended March.
That was bigger than a consolidated operating profit of 71.8 billion yen at Sony, which was hit by recalls of its PC batteries and hefty costs to launch the PlayStation 3 video game console.
Sony had said it could float the financial unit as early as this business year.
But there had been speculation Sony may delay the IPO because of recent turmoil in financial markets sparked by problems in the U.S. subprime mortgage market. Last month, Japan's Nikkei share average .N225 sank to a one-year low.
Ahead of the announcement, shares in Sony closed up 0.2 percent at 5,610 yen, outperforming the Tokyo stock market's electrical machinery index .IELEC.T, which fell 0.4 percent.
((Reporting by Kiyoshi Takenaka; editing by Lincoln Feast; Reuters Messaging: kiyoshi.takenaka.reuters.com@reuters.net; +81-3-3432-8837; kiyoshi.takenaka@reuters.com))
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