Sony Corp's financial arm on September 18 scaled down its giant initial public offering as renewed worries about the fallout from a global credit squeeze sent financial shares tumbling.
The planned flotation, one of the biggest in Japan in recent years, is being closely watched as a test of investor appetite for financial shares following recent turbulence on global markets.
Sony Financial Holdings said it had lowered the offer price to between 380,000 and 400,000 yen a share, making the total sale worth up to 320 billion yen (2.78 billion dollars), down from a previous target of 332 billion yen.
The move came amid growing jitters about problems emanating from the US subprime mortgage sector and after British lender Northern Rock was forced to seek a central bank bailout due to financial difficulties.
Sony aims to list the business next month in hopes of raising cash to reinvest in the recovering group's core electronics business.
The unit, the holding company for Sony Life Insurance Co, Sony Assurance Inc and Sony Bank, said it would set the flotation price on October 1 after assessing investor demand.
Sony could sell as much as 36.5 percent of Sony Financial. The electronics giant will float 725,000 shares in the unit while the subsidiary itself will also sell 75,000. Sony could also sell an additional 70,000 shares, which would raise the value of the deal to 348 billion yen. The stock market flotation will be the biggest since once-failed lender Aozora Bank's initial public offering in November.
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