In a press release yesterday, Sony announced the sale of their Tokyo-based Sony City Osaki building for ¥111.1 billion (approximately $1.2 billion). This follows the more headline-making sale of the US, New York City headquarters last month for $1.1 billion. The press release noted the sale was due to Sony “…transforming its business portfolio and reorganizing its assets in an effort to strengthen its corporate structure.”
In order to properly structure the sale, Sony placed the office building and premises into a trust, then sold the trust beneficiary rights to Nippon Building Fund Inc. and another “Japanese institutional investor” in a 60/40% split. Under a separate lease agreement, Sony and other Sony Group businesses will stay in the building for five years after this sale.
(via Joystiq)
Report filed by Thomas Coutts