NEC announced it has sold its European PC division Packard Bell to Lap Shun Hui, co-founder of Emachines, for an undisclosed amount.

The division has annual sales of around $1.09bn (£585m) but has been in the red for several years.

Packard Bell was an American radio manufacturer founded in 1933. Since it started selling low-cost computers in 1986 it has branched out into mp3 players, TVs and home networking. It is the fourth time it has been sold.

In early 1996 Packard Bell was the largest PC manufacturer in the United States. However, a poor service record and a string of controversies, including putting used parts in computers it sold as new, resulted in it leaving the US market entirely in 2000.

Historically a lot of its success has been attributed to misplaced name recognition with Hewlett Packard and Bell Laboratories to name but a few. Packard Bell is still a popular brand in Europe, where it holds third place in terms of consumer sales.