NEC plans $1.5 bln share sale after losses

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NEC Corporation, Japan's biggest PC maker, plans to sell up to 133.9 billion yen (USD1.5 billion) of shares to restore its battered capital base as it scrambles to cut costs and shift focus to cloud computing and lithium-ion batteries.
The capital raising, tipped by sources on Thursday, sent the firm's shares up 10.5%. It is NEC's first new share issue in six years.
NEC, which cut its full-year operating profit outlook by 40% last week, is hurrying to shore up its capital, which was weakened by losses at semiconductor unit NEC Electronics and sluggish sales of network systems.
Once the world's largest chipmaker, NEC faces large restructuring costs as it hurries to cut 290 billion yen in fixed costs in the year to March, which some analysts say is inadequate, and prepare for its chip unit merger with Renesas Technology.
"NEC needs to raise 400 billion yen to 500 billion yen to truly put it on a growth path," said Mitsushige Akino, chief fund manager at Ichiyoshi Investment Management Company.