A bid by China's Lenovo to buy major European personal computer maker Packard Bell will probably fail due to an acquisition by rival Acer.
The Lenovo plan may be aborted after Taiwan's Acer announced yesterday that it had signed a deal to buy Gateway for $710m and would indirectly take control of Netherlands' Packard Bell, Chinese state media said.
Gateway, the fourth largest private computer maker, said it would exercise its right of first refusal to buy Paris-based PB Holding, the parent company of Packard Bell.
That will prevent John Hui, a major shareholder of Gateway who bought Packard Bell from Japan's NEC last year, from selling Packard Bell to Lenovo.
Shares of Lenovo Group fell sharply today in Hong Kong following reports about the Acer-Gateway deal, which will see Acer replacing the Chinese maker as the world's third-largest private computer maker.
