Sony Corp. (6758.TO) will tap capital markets to raise more than $1 billion in fresh funds for investment and bond redemption next month as the struggling electronics maker grapples with a slide in global consumer spending that's pushing it to its first net loss in 14 years.

Sony, home of the PlayStation video game console and the Walkman music player, plans to offer Y100 billion of corporate bonds via three-, five- and 10-year tranches in early June, a person close to the deal said Tuesday.

Nomura Securities, Nikko Citigroup, Mitsubishi UFJ Securities and Mizuho Securities will jointly lead manage the deal, the person said.

A Sony spokesman said the company has decided to issue corporate bonds to raise funds for investment and to repay part of an existing bond issue that's set to mature in March 2010. He declined to provide further details.

Sony is expected report it swung deep into a net loss for its fiscal year ended March when its releases results Thursday. It has already announced plans to cut as many as 16,000 jobs from its global work force in an effort to trim billions of dollars from its cost base. The company has forecast a net loss of Y150 billion for the 12 months ended March.

While Sony Tuesday declined to comment on where it might invest some of the money it raises, analysts say it's likely that the unprofitable Sony Ericsson mobile phone business - a joint venture with Sweden's LM Ericsson Telephone Co (ERIC) - may need fresh capital before long as it tries to target new customers in markets like the U.S., China and India.

Sony Ericsson urgently needs to revamp its phone lineup to boost sales and margins and return the company to profitability, industry experts say.

Last month, Sony Ericsson announced plans to shed 2,000 jobs from its global work force of around 10,000 by mid-2010 after weak customer demand and destocking by retailers pushed it to a first-quarter loss of EUR293 million.

Ericsson has said it's prepared to inject cash into the struggling venture if needed, while Sony has said it also remains committed to the venture.

Sony's shares closed 3% lower Tuesday at Y2,615, while the Nikkei index ended the day down 1.6%. The stock traded in a narrow range through the session in Tokyo, with investors bracing for fiscal year earnings which some analysts fear could be even worse than Sony's own forecasts.

Like much of Japan's export-dependent technology industry, Sony has seen the value of its exports undercut by the recent strength of the yen versus currencies like the dollar and the euro.

It's also been hit by recession in major markets for its TVs, digital cameras and mobile phones as increasingly budget-conscious shoppers curtail spending plans.

Widely credited with creating the portable music-player market with the Walkman, Sony has yet to field a strong challenger to Apple Inc.'s smash-hit iPod. Sony's PlayStation videogame console has been losing out in the long run to models from Nintendo Co. and Microsoft Corp., and it faces stiff competition in the television and personal-computer markets.

In an effort to speed up attempts to revive the company's fortunes, Chief Executive Howard Stringer is taking fuller control of the company, adding the title of president and appointing younger executives to key management positions.

-By Megumi Fujikawa and Kenneth Maxwell, Dow Jones Newswires; 813-6895-7559; megumi.fujikawa@dowjones.com

(Yuzo Yamaguchi contributed to this article)