Nippon Columbia Co. said Tuesday it will issue 17,606,000 new shares in and outside Japan through Lehman Brothers Japan Inc. and Lehman Brothers International (Europe) to boost its capital base.

Lehman Brothers Japan will solicit domestic subscriptions from fewer than 50 large-lot investors, while Lehman Brothers International will place some of the new shares for private placement abroad, according to the music and visual content provider.

Nippon Columbia said the number of shares to be offered in Japan or abroad will be decided after an offering price is fixed between Wednesday and Friday.

Subscriptions will be accepted in units of 1,000 shares with payment due July 22, it said.

The new share offerings will bring the number of outstanding shares in Nippon Columbia to 202,232,036 from the current 184,626,036.

Nippon Columbia fell into a negative net worth of 3.2 billion yen on a consolidated basis as of March 31, reporting its first ever negative net worth.

The company reported group net losses of 22.1 billion yen for the year that ended March 31, after booking 20.1 billion yen in extraordinary charges, including a 10.2 billion yen loss on the sale of its Denon audio-video and media equipment unit.

Nippon Columbia has been in the process of restructuring with the help of Ripplewood Holdings LLC., which took a major stake in the company last October. It will change its name to Columbia Music Entertainment Inc. on Oct. 1.