Lenovo Group Ltd (聯想), China’s biggest personal-computer maker, said it will buy back a mobile-phone unit at double the price at which it sold the subsidiary last year.
Lenovo Group agreed to pay US$200 million in cash and shares to buy Lenovo Mobile Communication Technology Ltd from investors including a unit of Hony Capital, the private-equity company controlled by the PC maker’s parent Legend Holdings Ltd, a Hong Kong stock exchange filing said yesterday. That compares with the US$100 million Lenovo Group agreed to sell the mobile-phone company for in January last year.
The computer company, based in Beijing and in Morrisville, North Carolina, sold its unprofitable mobile-phone division to focus on PCs as it sought to fend off rising competition from bigger rivals including Hewlett-Packard Co and Acer Inc (宏碁). The handset unit returned to profit last year following the disposal, as demand for communications devices increased in China, the world’s biggest phone market.
“The Directors now consider that it is appropriate to move aggressively to capture the opportunity in the mobile Internet business,” the company said in a statement released through the Hong Kong stock exchange.
“Lenovo Mobile has noticeably improved its financial position and market presence,” it said.
Other investors in Lenovo Mobile include Shenzhen AoYinShi Investment LP and Gainnew International Ltd, the statement said.
Lenovo Mobile posted a profit of 30.4 million yuan (US$4.45 million) last year, compared with a loss of 184 million yuan in 2007, the statement said.
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