(REUTERS) - Sony Corp will branch out into the real-estate business in August and plans to take the unit public in three years, the Nikkei reported without citing a source.

Sony recently set up a real-estate unit in Tokyo, with the aim of generating annual sales of 50 billion yen (S$612 million) in five years, the newspaper said.

The real-estate foray marks the first initiative of a new project team at Sony that specialises in creating new businesses and aims at developing more than 10 new businesses over the next three years, the business daily reported.