Bloomberg, Taipei
Acer Group, the world's No. 3 computer maker, said it will offer to buy all the shares of its Mexican unit at a premium in a further move to take control of partly owned units so as to better manage its global distribution network.
Acer said it would offer to buy back shares of Acer Computec Latino America at 6.10 pesos apiece, a 69 percent premium over the last closing price of 3.60 pesos.
The group now holds a 35.9 percent stake in the Mexican unit, suggesting it would have to pay 374 million pesos (US$40 million) for the remaining stake.
Acer expects to make the public offer in about two months, after it gets permission from the Mexican authorities.
The move comes a few months after Acer in October began a similar process in Singapore, offering a 76 percent premium to shareholders of Acer Computer International Ltd.
Acer hopes to become Asia's largest maker of personal computers, servers and notebook computers by 2002, and it wants complete control over subsidiaries so it can better organize global logistics.
"We are trying to achieve end-to-end integration between the parent company and worldwide subsidiaries," said Carol Kao, a spokeswoman for Acer in Taiwan.
Acer Computec Latino America, or Acerla, employs about 500 people and handles assembly, sales and marketing of computers for Acer in Latin America.
Listed in 1996, it posted a net loss of 4.68 million pesos in the third quarter of last year, the most recent figures available.
"Owning the entire value chain will strengthen the Acer competitive advantage," said Simon Lin, president of Acer Information Products Group, in a statement.
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