Japan's Rakuten Group says it will sell a large stake in its banking unit in a bid to rebuild its finances. The e-commerce and technology services giant is losing money due to a slump in its mobile phone business.

The group expects to raise 60.6 billion yen, or about 415 million dollars through the sale of shares of Rakuten Bank in international markets.

That would reduce its stake in the unit to around 49 percent from a little more than 63 percent. Rakuten Bank will remain a consolidated subsidiary of the group.

Rakuten Group posted net losses for four straight years through fiscal 2022, largely due to soaring costs to build mobile phone base stations.

The conglomerate says it will mainly use the proceeds from the share sale for early repayment of debt. It is expected to start redeeming a large volume of corporate bonds next year.

Rakuten last month secured hundreds of millions of dollars in additional investment in its securities business when Mizuho Financial Group agreed to increase its stake.