Sony will sell its stake in Japanese mobile social games company DeNA, Reuters reports.

The consumer electronics giant announced the sale of the 17.7 million DeNA shares to Nomura Holdings in a statement to the Tokyo Stock Exchange this week, and said the price of the sale will be announced imminently.

The deal is expected to close on 7 March when Nomura said it will sell six million of the DeNA shares it acquires and retain 8.7 per cent of voting rights.

The sale will be Sony’s fourth asset sale of 2013 as it looks to avoid a fifth straight annual loss.