Acer to acquire Gateway for $710m
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Acer agrees to take over US PC-maker Gateway creating the world's third largest producer of computers.
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Gateway Inc. (GTW.N), the computer maker that recently shuttered its chain of 188 stores, will begin selling its desktops at CompUSA Inc.'s outlets later this week, the two companies said on Monday.
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Taiwanese PC vendor Acer has purchased 75 percent of the parent company of European electronics maker Packard Bell for &#8364;31 million ($45.8 million), Acer said in a statement to the Taiwan Stock Exchange Thursday.The deal effectively seals&#160;Acer&#39;s bid to keep Chinese rival Lenovo from acquiring Packard Bell&#160;and gaining a foothold in Europe, where Acer enjoys strong sales.Acer made the purchase with the help of&#160;Gateway, another company it acquired recently. The U.S. company held the right to counter any offer for Packard Bell if it entered into talks with a third party, which Packard Bell did by speaking with Lenovo. In October,&#160;Gateway made a binding offer to buy shares&#160;from the largest shareholder in PB Holdings Co., Packard Bell&#39;s parent company.That deal went through Wednesday, the Acer statement said. The company purchased 500 common shares of PB Holdings, in addition to 30,000 Class B convertible preferred equity certificates (CPECs) and 7,000 class C CPECs.Stock market analysts have argued 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 there.Acer bought Gateway last year for $710 million.&#160;
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Retailer will begin offering Gateway notebook and desktop PCs next month.
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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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(InfoWorld) - Acer Inc.'s agreement to acquire Gateway Inc. has foiled Lenovo Group Ltd.'s plans to buy PC vendor Packard Bell BV, and could leave Acer owning both Gateway and Packard Bell. On August 7, Lenovo revealed it was in discussions with Packard Bell over a possible acquisition. At the time,Â it looked like Lenovo had beaten Acer, which was also interested in acquiring the company. However,Â Acer's plan to buy Gateway for $710 million, announced Monday, trumps anything Lenovo brings to the table in its negotiations with Packard Bell. In 2006, Gateway signed an agreement with John Hui, Packard Bell's largest shareholder, that gives Gateway the right of first refusal if he decides to sells PB Holding Co. SARL, the parent company of Packard Bell. What that means is that if Packard Bell wants to enter into a final agreement to be purchased, the company has to ask Gateway first, said Y.T. Du, of Citigroup Global Markets Inc., which represented Acer in the negotiations. Gateway can refuse the deal if it wants and enter into purchase talks with Packard Bell, he said. That is exactly what Gateway has done, announcing plans to exercise its right of first refusal at the same time the Acer deal was unveiled. The agreement between Hui and Gateway is rooted inÂ Gateway's 2004 acquisition of eMachines, a PC vendor that Hui founded. When Hui acquired his stake in PB Holding Co., he granted the right of first refusal to Gateway in exchange for the company waving parts of the noncompete agreement that Hui signed when eMachines was sold. Now that Gateway has entered into talks to acquire PB Holding from Hui, Acer could end up owning both Gateway and Packard Bell. While a Packard Bell acquisition would increase Acer's market share in Europe, a deal also means Acer will face having to integrate two companies with its existing operations instead of only one. "Acer is still really strong in Europe," said Bryan Ma, director of personal systems research at IDC Asia-Pacific. Ma worried that Acer's desire to acquire Packard Bell is driven more by a desire to slow Lenovo's growth in Europe, rather than a pressing need to strengthen its own position there. A Lenovo spokeswoman was not immediately available to comment. Â  With additional reporting by Dan Nystedt in Taipei. Â
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The Gateway One is the company's seventh all-in-one PC
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Acer has passed Lenovo as the world's third largest PC vendor with its purchase of Gateway, and now it's gunning for U.S. giant Dell.
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Computer maker Gateway Inc. on Tuesday said it agreed to buy back about $316 million of its stock from Internet provider America Online Inc.
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(InfoWorld) - Acer's planned $710 million acquisitionÂ of U.S. PC vendor GatewayÂ won antitrust approval in the U.S. as the clock struck midnight Monday, Gateway said. The time marked the end of a 30-day waiting period in which the U.S. Federal Trade Commission or the Antitrust Division of the U.S. Department of Justice may intervene or request additional time to review the deal for possible antitrust violations. Not all transactions face antitrust scrutiny by the two U.S. agencies. Acer, of Hsichih, Taiwan, was forced to file with the agencies to notify them of its intention to buy Gateway and provide details of the proposed transaction due to the size of the deal. At the end of the day on Monday, the waiting period ended, Gateway said in a filing to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. "The closing of the transaction remains subject to other customary conditions, including regulatory approvals in other jurisdictions which [Acer] anticipates will be satisfied over the next several weeks," Gateway said. Acer agreed to buy GatewayÂ in August. Once the acquisition closes, Acer will become the world's third largest PC vendor by shipments, at around 20 million desktops and laptops a year, and it will be transformed into a company with different PC brands. The boards of directors at both companies have already signed off on the agreement. Â
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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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To keep Lenovo from buying Packard Bell, Acer has acquired 75 percent of parent company PB Holdings.
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(InfoWorld) - 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. Under terms of the agreement announced Monday, Acer will purchase all of Gateway's outstanding shares for $1.90 per share. The deal has already been approved by the boards of directors at both companies and should be completed by the end of this year, subject to government approval, Acer said in a statement. Gateway's shares ended at $1.21 Friday on the New York Stock Exchange. "This is the biggest acquisition in Acer's 30 year history," said J.T. Wang, Acer's chairman, speaking at a news conference in Taipei. "After this acquisition, we are solidly number three in the global PC market," Wang said. Acer's acquisition deal with Gateway also derails rivalÂ Lenovo Group's plans to acquire Packard Bell. Alongside the acquisition deal with Acer, Gateway unveiled plans to exercise its right of first refusal to acquire shares in Packard Bell's parent company, PB Holding Co. SARL, from John Hui. Hui is the founder ofÂ eMachines, which Gateway acquired in 2004, and the largest shareholder in Packard Bell. Gateway did not disclose how much it has offered for Hui's stake in PB Holding. Acer's efforts to overtake Lenovo will get a big boost from Gateway, which was the world's eighth largest PC vendor during 2006. Together Acer and Gateway shipped 18.6 million PCs during 2006, compared to 16.6 million PCs shipped by Lenovo. The Gateway acquisition will have the greatest impact in the U.S., where Acer has been growing fast but remains in sixth place among PC vendors. "This is definitely a good play for them from the U.S. consumer perspective," said Bryan Ma, director of personal systems research at IDC Asia-Pacific. However, the big question is how Acer plans to integrate Gateway with its own operations, and how smoothly the integration process will go, he said. Acer's share of the U.S. PC market grew 164 percent during the second quarter of 2007, compared to the same period last year. Acer shipped 888,000 PCs to U.S. customers, giving the company a 5.2 percent share of the market. By comparison, Gateway was the fourth-largest PC vendor during the second quarter, shipping 965,000 PC and taking 5.6 percent share of the U.S. PC market. The Gateway acquisition vaults Acer into the number three spot in the U.S. PC market, behind only HP and Dell. "Acer is an outstanding strategic partner for Gateway," said Ed Coleman, CEO of Gateway, in a video feed at the Taipei news conference to announce the deal. Gateway reported net income of $1.9 million for the second quarter, compared to a loss of $7.7 million one year earlier. The company said gains in its retail division during the period were offset by declining revenue in its professional and direct divisions. However, talks are currently underway to sell off the professional division to a third party, Gateway said Monday. The company did not offer details of those discussions. Â
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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.
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Retail consumers in the U.S. could begin to see great deals on computer purchases as PC vendors get more competitive in the wake ofÂ Acer's announcement on Monday that it plans to buy Gateway.
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The first in a new series of desktop PCs from Gateway will become available later this week, says the company.
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(InfoWorld) - Taiwanese PC vendor Acer Inc. has started selling laptop PCs at popular retailer Best Buy Co. Inc., expanding its presence in the U.S. market. Best Buy is featuring Acer laptop PCs with a brand spotlight notice on its Web site. All five of the Acer laptop PCs on offer at Best Buy are priced under US$900. The most expensive of the five is the Acer Aspire AS5610-4537, which runs on an Intel Corp. Core Duo processor. It costs $849.99. The lowest-priced Acer laptop at Best Buy is the Aspire 420 notebook, AS3680-2022, which runs on an Intel Celeron M and retails for $499.99. According to the Web site, the notebook is already sold out. A similar Aspire 420, the AS3690-2710, runs for $699.99 with a larger, 15.4-inch screen. Acer has targeted the U.S. and China as two major potential growth markets for the company, and has invested more resources into the two countries over the past few years. Acer is the world's fourth largest PC vendor by revenue and the fastest growing PC vendor in the world among the top 10.