Sony sells Tokyo office building for $1.2B

TOKYO (AFP) – Sony said Thursday it has sold one of its main buildings in Tokyo for $1.2 billion as the embattled Japanese electronics giant offloads assets to help repair its tattered balance sheet.

The news comes after the company in January announced the sale of its US headquarters in Manhattan for more than $1.0 billion while this month it also sold part of its online medical services unit.

Sony said its had sold the 25-storey central Tokyo building, which houses its television unit, to Nippon Building Fund and an unnamed Japanese institutional investor for 111 billion yen ($1.2 billion) and would earn it a profit of 41 billion yen.

“Sony is transforming its business portfolio and reorganising its assets in an effort to strengthen its corporate structure,” the company said in a statement. “This sale was conducted as a part of this reorganisation.”

Sony said it would remain in the central Tokyo building for five years under a leasing agreement.