Acer Buys 75 Percent of Packard Bell
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To keep Lenovo from buying Packard Bell, Acer has acquired 75 percent of parent company PB Holdings.
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(InfoWorld) - NEC Corp. executives are negotiating the sale of the company's Packard Bell division, reportedly to eMachines founder Lap Shun "John" Hui. The move would leave NEC without a consumer PC brand, while it continues to supply the European professional market with NEC-branded computers. "NEC is considering an offer, and the process of the sale is underway, but no deal has been completed," NEC spokeswoman Kazuko Andersen said on Friday. However she refused to confirm a story in the International Herald Tribune which identified Hui as the potential buyer. Hui has been publicly shopping for a PC company in recent weeks. In August,Â he made an offer to buy the retail arm of Gateway Inc., but the company'sÂ board rejected the deal. Hui made his initial fortune when he founded the entry-level PC vendor eMachines Inc., and sold it to Gateway in 2004 for US$234 million. Hui owns a reported five percent holding of Gateway stock, as well as Joui International, an office supply company. He has made no public statement about the NEC offer, but has posted media reports about it onÂ his Web site. Calls to the investment banking firm that represents him, Averil Capital Markets Group Inc., were not returned. Whoever the buyer is, this sale will continue NEC's shift from the consumer sector toward enterprise communications. NEC has made several moves in recent months to build its position in telecommunications markets, including a deal in July with Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. Ltd. (Panasonic) to develop mobile phone handsets, and with Texas Instruments Inc. to build a hardware platform for future phones. The company alsoÂ agreed in April to buy 60 percent of the Internet Protocol (IP)-based communications division of Koninklijke Philips Electronics NV. NEC described that deal as a step in its plan to achieve a 10 percent share of the global communications market. Packard Bell is the third-largest vendor of consumer PCs in Europe, where its biggest markets are the U.K., France, Spain, Italy, the Netherlands and Belgium, the company said. In recent years, Packard Bell has begun to sell MP3 players and DVD players as well as basic PCs, and is now expanding geographically into developing markets in eastern Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Latin America. Â
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Hewlett-Packard on Monday agreed to acquire a Middle East systems integrator with the aim to expand its services presence in the region.The acquisition of Atos Origin Middle East, in Manama, Bahrain, will boost HP&#39;s services presence in the region&#39;s public sector and oil and gas segments, an HP spokeswoman said. It also enhances HP&#39;s services capabilities in the consulting and integration of SAP projects in the Middle East.Since AOME is privately held, financial information hasn&#39;t been released, the HP spokeswoman said. The transaction is expected to be completed by the end of November.AOME is not related to Atos Origin, another systems integration company based in France, the HP spokeswoman said.AOME has 450 employees with a presence in Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates, Libya, and Qatar. The employees will be integrated into HP&#39;s Middle East and Africa subregion services business, said Anette Nachbar, an HP spokeswoman, in an e-mail statement.With the acquisition, HP will get access to a large AOME customer base that includes oil giant Saudi Arabian Oil and telecom giant Saudi Telecom, Nachbar said. Services offered by AOME include enterprise resource planning, business intelligence, enterprise content management, and supply chain management.The acquisition will also boost HP&#39;s ability to offer consistent customer experience for SAP installations worldwide, Nachbar said.&quot;SAP-related services are a core element of HP Services&#39; consulting and integration capabilities and growth strategy, and we are focused on growing that business,&quot; Nachbar said.HP and SAP already have a deep relationship at business, research and development, and engineering levels dating back 18 years. Earlier this year HP announced services for large customers moving to new installations supporting SAP&#39;s Enterprise SOA approach to IT.
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In a move designed to help it better compete in Europe, Hewlett-Packard said it has acquired Synstar PLC, a U.K.-based technology services firm, for $293 million.
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(InfoWorld) - Hewlett-Packard plans to buy datacenter automation software vendor Opsware for about $1.6 billion. HP said Monday that it had signed a definitive agreement to acquire Opsware in a cash tender deal that values the company at $14.25 per share. Opsware's stock was $10.28 at the close of Friday's trading. Once the deal closes, HP plans to combine the Opsware software with its own enterprise IT management software, as the new acquisition becomes part of HP's software business. "The acquisition of Opsware is intended to enable HP Software to help our customers resolve one of their critical pain points: controlling the increasing complexity and cost of managing the datacenter," Thomas Hogan, senior vice president of software at HP, said in a news release. HP has been steadily expanding its business technology optimization portfolio over the last couple of years through acquisitions, including the purchases ofÂ Mercury InteractiveÂ andÂ Peregrine Systems. After HP has closed the acquisition, the vendor expects to appoint Opsware CEO Ben Horowitz as head of its business technology optimization organization, reporting to Hogan. Subject to regulatory approval, HP hopes to close the purchase before the end of October. Opsware System software automates data center operations including provisioning, configuration, and deployment. Â
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Acer Inc., the world's fourth-largest computer vendor by unit sales, plans to acquire U.S. computer maker Gateway Inc. for $710 million, the Taiwanese company said Monday.
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Acer Inc. plans to acquire Gateway Inc. in a deal worth $710 million that Acer says will make it the world's third-largest PC vendor.
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(InfoWorld) - Acer Inc. executed a master stroke in the global war for PC market share withÂ its US$710 million purchase of Gateway Inc., but it may take a while for the market to see the light. Industry researchers view the deal as a long term positive, saying it not only strengthens Acer's ability to challenge Hewlett-Packard Co. and Dell Inc. for U.S. market share, but that it alsoÂ blocked a potent rival, Lenovo Group Ltd., from gaining ground in Europe. Even Sun-tzu, the ancient Chinese war strategist who wrote "The Art of War," could not have achieved a better move, wrote J.P. Gownder, consumer PC analyst at Forrester Research, in a report. "Acer strategists calculated several moves ahead in the global PC chess game. If the execution is solid, this deal will create a powerful third-place PC competitor that will challenge HP and Dell by 2009, and portends the rise of non-Japanese Asian PC superpowers," he wrote. But in the near term, stock market analysts and investors couldn't have disagreed more. Almost in unison, they criticized the deal as too expensive, too complex and unnecessary for Acer's growth. "The premium paid to Gateway may be too high, and the execution risk of a multiple-brand strategy is clearly the key here," said Vincent Chen, PC industry analyst at CLSA Asia-Pacific Markets in Taipei. The negative comments hurt Acer's stock. The shares fell 10.6 percent this week to end at NT$57.9 (US$1.75) Friday on the Taiwan Stock Exchange. But the view of the financial sector may be short sighted. Analysts at industry researchers such as Forrester, IDC and Current Analysis West take a longer-term perspective on the deal. Acer and Gateway may lose some market share immediately following the merger, which is normal, according to Richard Shim, an analyst at IDC. But over the long term the deal will give it the size and clout to gain market share and source components. "The opportunity for Acer in acquiring Gateway is the consumer market segment and particularly the retail channel," he wrote in a report. "The acquisition of Gateway will not necessarily position Acer to be a competitor on the level of Dell and HP but it lays the ground work for Acer to be a more significant player in the largest market in the world [the U.S.] and in the fastest growing segment of that market." Current Analysis West analyst Toni Duboise believes Acer could triple its U.S. market share with the addition of Gateway-branded desktops and notebooks, and eMachines' value PCs. The impact of the deal will take months, even years to ripple through the market, analysts say. Not only did Acer add significantly to its size,Â it also stopped Lenovo from increasing its presence in Europe. Lenovo had been in talks to buy Packard Bell BV, but by picking up Gateway, Acer was able to block the deal. Gateway held the right to refuse any deal to buy Packard Bell and make its own offer due to an older contract between the two companies. Stock market analysts argue that buying Packard Bell is a waste of time for Acer because the company is already strong in Europe. But industry researchers, and Forrester in particular, argue the move staved off a Lenovo ploy that might have hurt Acer in Europe. To be sure, merging companies isn't easy. Acer's ability to join company cultures, keep valuable workers and create product strategies that make sense will be the key to the success of the deal. The company has many recent examples to learn from, most notably HP's purchase of Compaq and the sale of IBM Corp.'s PC division to Lenovo. Rob Enderle, industry analyst at the Enderle Group, warns that Acer needs to make sure it keeps people from Gateway with experience in acquisitions, such as those who worked to make eMachines a part of Gateway after that deal. "This is also an ideal time to take a look at all of the technology both companies are using, both HP and Lenovo waited until late to get rid of a lot of the out-of-date operational technology the companies were using and that hurt both a lot. Particularly in the case of HP and the PC Company side of Lenovo, updating the core operations technology was critical to the success both firms are experiencing now," Enderle said. Time will tell if Acer can execute its merger strategy as well as its battle plan for the global PC market. Â
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HP said today it plans to buy business process monitoring specialist Bristol Technology to improve its presence in the BTO market.
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Taiwanese PC maker Acer Inc. will acquire Gateway Inc. for US$710 million, Acer announced Monday.
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Hewlett-Packard Co., a maker of computers, printers and information technology systems for businesses, said Monday that it bought back about $1.
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With the ink barely dry on IBM's Watchfire offer, HP has evened the stakes by announcing its intent to buy rival SPI Dynamics for an undisclosed sum. In so doing, HP plans to acquire a company with which its own Mercury acquisition has had extensive experience.
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Acer's planned purchase of Gateway Inc. for $710 million, announced on Monday, means another reordering of the PC marketplace, analysts said.
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TAIPEI/SHANGHAI  - Taiwan's Acer Inc will buy Gateway Inc for $710 million to double its U.S. presence and unseat China's Lenovo as the world's No. 3 PC maker, while dealing a blow to its efforts to grow in Europe.
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TAIPEI/SHANGHAI  - Taiwan's Acer  will buy Gateway  for $710 million, creating the world's No. 3 PC maker and doubling its U.S. presence while dealing a blow to arch-foe Lenovo's  efforts to grow in Europe.
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A fast growth rate and recent acquisitions in the U.S. and Europe will extend Acer&#39;s lead over Lenovo Group as the world&#39;s third-largest PC vendor behind Hewlett-Packard&#160;and Dell, according to a study released by Gartner on Wednesday.Acer and Lenovo stood neck-and-neck in global PC shipments with 8.1 percent and 8 percent market shares, respectively, in the third quarter of 2007. Before acquisitions, Acer shipped 5.54 million PC units worldwide, a healthy 58 percent year-over-year increase. The growth rate overshadowed Lenovo, which shipped 5.48 million PCs, a 22.8 percent increase.Gartner&#39;s quarterly figures were compiled before&#160;Acer finished its acquisition of Gateway&#160;on Wednesday for $710 million. Acer also funded Gateway&#39;s proposed acquisition of European PC vendor Packard Bell&#160;for an undisclosed sum. That was&#160;a blow to Lenovo Group, which in early August revealed it was in discussions with Packard Bell over a possible acquisition.Packard Bell is largely a European vendor and has a small market share, similar to eMachines in the U.S before it was acquired by Gateway, said Diana Maranon, managing partner at Averil Capital Markets Groups. Maranon&#39;s company brokered Gateway&#39;s Packard Bell acquisition.An IDC report, also released Wednesday, listed Lenovo as the world&#39;s third-largest PC vendor but indicated&#160;Acer could overtake Lenovo&#160;with its growth rates in the Europe, Middle East, and Africa and Asia-Pacific markets, excluding Japan. Acer&#39;s U.S. PC shipments grew more than 100 percent during the third quarter, though it could face more pressure from competitors as it continues to expand, IDC said.In the U.S., Acer replicated the business strategy that made it highly successful in Europe: de-emphasize retail, sell through indirect channels, and offer low, competitive prices, said Roger Kay, founder and president of Endpoint Technologies Associates. Acer stands at the low end in the U.S. market, and the Gateway acquisition gives it a good position in the middle and high-end markets, Kay said.Gateway&#39;s worldwide shipments increased 8 percent in the third quarter, though U.S. shipments fell 14.4 year over year, Gartner said.Acer&#39;s global growth strategy is paying dividends and could affect Lenovo in the U.S. and Europe, Kay said.The Packard Bell acquisition was a defensive move for Acer to ensure Lenovo doesn&#39;t get a toehold in the European market, Kay said. Acer is already one of the top notebook sellers in Europe.Lenovo showed positive growth in global markets, but Acer&#39;s acquisitions block Lenovo from acquiring some valuable shelf space for product distribution, said Charles Smulders, managing vice president at Gartner, in an e-mail interview.Lenovo could not be reached for comment.Global PC shipments&#160;during the third quarter were 68.4 million, driven by high demand for laptops in the home market, Gartner said. HP was the world&#39;s top PC vendor, with 12.8 million units shipped, a 18.8 percent market share, and 33.1 percent year-over-year volume growth. Dell followed with a 14.4 percent market share, shipping 9.86 million units, a 3.5 percent increase.The survey includes desktop PCs, laptops, and x86 servers.
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By Jordan Robertson Associated Press  SAN JOSE, Calif. -- Hewlett-Packard Co.