DeNA to Spend Up to 20 Billion Yen to Buy Back 10% of Shares

DeNA Co. (2432) , Japan ’s biggest social- gaming operator, plans to spend as much as 20 billion yen ($252 million) to buy back as much as 10 percent of its outstanding shares, after its stock fell to a two-year low.

The company plans to make the purchase between June 15 and July 31 as part of measures to reward shareholders, DeNA said in a statement today. Net income may be 9.05 billion yen in the three months ending June 30, it said in a separate statement. The forecast compares with the 9.35 billion-yen average of three analyst estimates compiled by Bloomberg.

The Tokyo-based operator of the “Mobage” gaming site joins Japanese companies including Canon (7751) Inc. and Sega Sammy Holdings Inc. (6460) in buying back shares after it slumped 23 percent in Tokyo trading this year. DeNa fell as government scrutiny led the company and domestic competitors to abandon a sales method said by regulators to cause excessive charges for users.

Canon, the world’s largest camera maker, said June 4 it plans to spend as much as 50 billion yen on a buyback. Sega Sammy, a Japanese pachinko and video-game software maker, said May 31 it plans to spend 17 billion yen.

DeNA provided its quarterly earnings forecast under international accounting standards. The company had net income of 9.5 billion yen a year earlier under the Japanese standard.

DeNa rose 1.3 percent to 1,775 yen at the close in Tokyo before the announcement. The shares fell to 1,455 yen, the lowest since November 2009, on June 4.

To contact the reporter on this story: Naoko Fujimura in Tokyo at nfujimura@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Michael Tighe at mtighe4@bloomberg.net