Rumours link Lenovo to Brazilian buy-out

Chinese vendor's share price soars as it confirms it is in preliminary acquisition talks

Lenovo has confirmed it is in talks about a possible acquisition and speculation is mounting that it is keen to snap up Brazil's biggest PC manufacturer.

Rumours surfaced yesterday that the Chinese vendor was looking to acquire, fuelling an increase of more than a quarter in its stock price. The company issued a statement today, in which chairman Yang Yuanqing said: "The directors confirm that the company has had certain preliminary discussions with independent third parties regarding potential investments opportunities and acquisitions."

Lenovo is remaining tight-lipped on possible buy-out targets and has insisted no formal negotiations have taken place and no agreements have been reached. Onlookers have suggested one likely candidate is Brazilian vendor Postivo Informatica. South American media outlets have claimed the company has been the subject of interest from both Lenovo and rival Dell.

Another name linked to a potential deal is Fujitsu Siemens Computers (FSC), which was bought outright by Fujitsu last month. Speculation has continued that the Japanese firm will look to offload the company's PC business to focus on the higher margin areas of servers and storage.

Lenovo has been linked with an acquisition of FSC for some time, (Channelweb, 18 July). It was suggested as a possible outright buyer of the joint venture when rumours emerged that Siemens was considering backing out.