Japanese electronics giant Sony Corporation has sold its entire 8.2% in Japanese satellite operator and DTH provider Sky Perfect JSAT for approximately Y15.24bn (US$149m).
The sale was part of a wider stock repurchase undertaken by JSAT on 4 December….
Japanese electronics giant Sony Corporation has sold its entire 8.2% in Japanese satellite operator and DTH provider Sky Perfect JSAT for approximately Y15.24bn (US$149m).
The sale was part of a wider stock repurchase undertaken by JSAT on 4 December. In total, the company acquired 28.34 million shares of its common stock at Y538 per share. 28.31 million of those shares were held by Sony.
JSAT said that the buyback, which was approved by its board on 3 December, was in order to ‘execute prompt capital policy in response to business environment changes.’
The stock was repurchased through an off-auction trade on the Tokyo Stock Exchange.
At the end of October 2013, JSAT had free cash flow of Y14.5bn (US$142m) and total cash and cash equivalents of Y86.4bn (US$842m).
Sony’s exit reflects the company’s recent strategy of reorganising its business portfolio in order to improve profitability. Over the past year, the corporation has sold a number of non-core assets including its Sony City Osaki Tokyo office for US$1.07bn and part of its stake in health-care data provider M3 Inc for US$152m.
JSAT and Indosat in talks over satellite collaboration
Meanwhile, JSAT is in talks with its Indonesian counterpart Indosat with regard to working together on a joint satellite project.
Local reports in Indonesia have claimed that Indosat signed an MoU with JSAT in June over the potential development of the former’s 150.5E orbital slot. The position is to be filled by Indosat’s Palapa-E satellite, which is currently being constructed by Orbital Sciences and is due to be launched in 2016.
In response to the reports, which quoted Indosat CEO Alexander Rusli, JSAT issued a statement: “The articles are not based on the official announcement by Sky Perfect JSAT.
“Sky Perfect JSAT is discussing the model of cooperation with Indosat to expand the satellite business in Asia. However, Sky Perfect JSAT has not made any decision on this matter yet.”
Indosat ordered Palapa-E from Orbital back in May 2013. Based on Orbital’s GEOStar-2 platform, the new spacecraft will replace Palapa-C2 at 150.5E. C2 has been positioned in the slot since 1996 and is therefore continuing to operate beyond its expected lifetime.
A new Indonesian DTH provider, BiG TV, launched on 9 September using JSAT-4B for its broadcasts. JSAT stated that in the future it also plans to broadcast Japanese programs translated into Indonesian on BiG TV.
