Nippon Columbia Co. said Thursday it will issue 49,646,000 new shares at 141 yen per share in and outside Japan to boost its capital base.

The number of shares, to be issued through Lehman Brothers Japan Inc. and Lehman Brothers International (Europe), is roughly three times the figure of 17,606,000 announced Tuesday. A company official said the change reflects a surge in demand.

Lehman Brothers Japan will solicit domestic subscriptions to 7,400,000 shares from less than 50 large-lot investors, while Lehman Brothers International will place the remaining 42,246,000 shares for private placement abroad.

Subscriptions will be accepted in units of 1,000 shares with payment due July 22, the music and visual content provider said.

Nippon Columbia said 994.42 million yen to be raised from the domestic offering and 5.68 billion yen from the overseas offering will be used for operating capital.

The new share offerings will bring the number of outstanding shares in Nippon Columbia to 234,272,036 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 negative net worth for the first time.

The firm reported a group net loss 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 audiovisual 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 in October.

It will change its name to Columbia Music Entertainment Inc. on Oct. 1.