Acer Inc (宏碁), the world’s second-largest PC brand, yesterday said it would pay more than NT$300 million (US$9.44 million) to China’s Founder Group (北大方正集團) to license the latter’s trademarks, intellectual property and other intangible assets and to manage Founder’s branded-PC business in China.
The company disclosed the amount of the payment in a stock exchange filing after the Chinese-language Economic Daily News reported earlier yesterday that Acer would spend US$70 million to license the branded-PC business for seven years.
“We can’t comment on the details, as the licensing agreement hasn’t taken effect yet,” the filing said.
Late on Wednesday, Acer announced that it would take over the management of Founder’s branded-PC business by taking over its Chinese partner’s planning, marketing and supply chain management, with the Shanghai-based PC maker operating Acer’s after-sales service in China.
The filing, which follows the signing of a memorandum of understanding between the two parties in late May in Beijing, didn’t disclose the licensing figure, nor the duration of the partnership.
As well as its own-brand business, Acer has been selling products under another three other brand names after acquiring Gateway Inc, eMachines and Packard Bell over the past three years to boost its market share in the US and Europe.
The licensing agreement makes Founder Acer’s fifth PC brand.
“[The partnership] will enhance the core competitiveness of Acer in the Chinese service sector, including widening the coverage of its service network and allow Acer to provide a faster service at a lower cost,” the statement said.
Under the deal, Acer will utilize Founder’s comprehensive channel network to extend its foothold in the remote Chinese cities, rural markets and the commercial market segment, especially small and medium-sized businesses. However, Founder will continue to handle the businesses related to large state-owned enterprises, governmental clients and clients of some other particular sectors directly, the statement said.
Acer said the deal would bring in total revenues of US$2.5 billion in China next year, up from this year’s US$1.5 billion. China contributed 5 percent to Acer’s total revenues in the first quarter — a figure unchanged from the same period last year, according to the company’s statistics.
Acer had 13 percent of the global computer market in the second quarter, trailing Hewlett-Packard Co’s 17.4 percent, according to Gartner Inc.
Acer’s rank in the Asia-Pacific region is expected to climb to No. 2 with 12.3 percent of the market as a result of the Founder partnership, the statement said.
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