Chinese PC maker Lenovo Group has announced plans to acquire a 37% stake in Medion AG, a PC company in Germany, for EUR231 million.
The group reportedly hopes to soon further raise the stake to 80%.
This move marks another integration measure of Lenovo since its acquisition of Japan's NEC at the beginning of this year.
Medion AG is a company engaged in the fields of personal computing, multimedia products, mobile communication services, and consumer electronics. It operates in Europe, the United States, and the Asia-Pacific region. Once the acquisition is completed, Lenovo's market share in Germany is expected to double.
Commenting on the acquisition, Yang Yuanqing, chief executive officer of Lenovo Group, said that they want to win more market share not only in Germany, but also in the entire western European market. In fact, this transaction is reportedly the largest acquisition for Lenovo since it acquired the PC business of IBM six years ago.
Many companies have been developing their PC business by mergers and acquisitions in recent years: HP acquired Palm; Dell acquired EqualLogic; and Acer acquired the PC business of Founder. Statistics from IDC show that HP ranked first in the worldwide PC market, followed by Dell, Acer, and Lenovo. Meanwhile, the lack of consumer power in the PC market and the impact brought by tablet computers makes the competition between these traditional PC makers more intense.