PC giant Lenovo could be poised to enter the European consumer market after revealing it is in talks to buy Packard Bell.
Packard Bell was the consumer wing of NEC Computers before it was snapped up by Lap Shun Hui, co-founder of Emachines, last October (CRN, 16 October).
After buying IBM???s corporate-focused PC division two years ago, Hong Kong-based Lenovo said it has entered a memorandum of understanding to "explore the possibilities of the proposed acquisition of Packard Bell".
The move would catapult Lenovo ahead of Fujitsu Siemens as Europe???s fourth largest PC maker, behind Hewlett-Packard, Dell and Acer.
The announcement comes just months after Lenovo declared it would enter the European consumer market organically (CRN, 18 June).
Analysts believe Packard Bell, which boasts an annual turnover of ???1.5bn, could be worth around $800m.
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