Sony has sold its 'Sony City Osaki 'office building and premises to Nippon Building Fund Inc. and a Japanese institutional investor for 111 billion yen ($1.2 billion). Sony placed the office building and premises in a trust and then sold the trust beneficiary rights. Sony and other Sony Group businesses will remain in the building for a period of five years after the sale under a lease agreement entered into separately.

Nippon Building Fund will take took a 60 percent stake in the property, while another investor will hold a 40 percent interest in the property.

After deducting expenses related to transaction costs, Sony received net cash proceeds today of 110 billion yen. As a result of the sale, Sony expects to realize a gain on the sale of approximately 41 billion yen, to be recorded as operating income, in the fourth quarter of the fiscal year ending March 31, 2013.

As Sony stated on February 7, 2013 in the announcement of its forecast for consolidated financial results for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2013, Sony has identified certain assets for possible sale as part of an initiative to transform its business portfolio and reorganize its assets. This sale was conducted as a part of that initiative. While this sale was aniticipated and the potential gain on the sale was taken into account at the time of the forecast, Sony is currently reevaluating the aggregate impact of this sale and other factors on the forecast.

Last month Sony agreed to sell its U.S. headquarters building in New York City for $1.1 billion.