Sony Corp. on Aug. 29 said it will sell the 5.03% stake it holds in Olympus Corp. back to the company, two months after activist investor Third Point LLC urged the consumer-electronics maker to divest its shareholdings in other businesses.
The consumer-electronics maker will sell 68,975,800 common shares at a price of ¥1,165 apiece, the closing share price of Olympus on Aug. 29, equating to a total price of ¥80.4 billion.
The Japanese companies agreed to a business and capital alliance in 2012. The following year, they established a medical business joint venture, Sony Olympus Medical Solutions Inc.
Sony in a statement said it felt the initial purpose of the capital alliance had been achieved and it would continue to focus on the medical joint venture.
In June, Third Point called for Sony to spin off its semiconductor unit, and its games, music and film business into publicly listed entities. Third Point also asked the Japanese company to divest its stakes in M3 Inc., Spotify Technology SA and Olympus.
As of Aug. 28, US$1 was equivalent to ¥105.86.
