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Sony (NYSE:SONY) said it is looking at listing Sony Financial Group, whose operations include life insurance and banking, and retaining a stake of slightly less than 20%.
The potential spin-off comes as Sony doubles down on its entertainment business centred on games, music and movies, as well as its image sensor business.
The partial spin-off would allow the newly listed business to retain the Sony branding.
Sony’s financial unit reported a 5% drop in annual revenue to 1.45 trillion yen ($10.74 billion) in the year ended March and an operating profit of 223.9 billion yen, up 49% thanks to one-off gains from a real estate sale.
Sony is working to drive synergies between its different business lines, saying that hit drama “The Last of Us” on HBO drove uptake of the game franchise it is based on and music used in the show.
Sony shares were up 6% in morning trading in Tokyo.
($1 = 135.0500 yen)
