Beijing: A Chinese science group is offering to sell part of its controlling stake in the parent of Lenovo Group, the world's fourth-largest personal computer maker, but
with restrictions imposed on what can be done with the shares.
The Chinese Academy of Sciences wants USD 408.8 million for 29 per cent of Legend Holdings, according to an announcement issued through the Beijing Equity Exchange, a
financial firm.
The academy will remain Legend's key shareholder with a 36 per cent stake after the sale and the buyer must agree not to alter management or strategy for five years, the
announcement said. Legend says the remaining shares are owned
by its employees.
The announcement gave no reason for the sale and an
academy spokesman did not respond to phone messages. But the
newspaper China Business News said the academy is reducing its
stakes in the nearly 500 companies that it owns in an effort
to improve management.
The buyer must have operations in finance, energy and
real estate, said the announcement, dated Friday. It said the
academy wants to sell to a single buyer and will hold an
auction if there is more than one bidder after the offer
closes September 3.
Lenovo was founded as Legend Computers in 1984 by a group
of 12 researchers including Liu Chuanzhi. It adopted the
Lenovo name in 2003 and became a global PC maker in 2005 with
its acquisition of IBM Corp's PC unit.
Bureau Report
First Published: Monday, August 10, 2009, 17:49