vested
China's Lenovo to buy Brazilian electronics company CCE SAO PAULO/HONG KONG (Reuters) - China's Lenovo Group Ltd agreed on Wednesday to buy Brazilian electronics maker CCE, as the world's No. 2 PC maker by sales bets that Brazil's promising consumer market can help revive its slowing profit growth.
The deal, announced in a securities filing, is valued at a base price of
300 million reais ($148 million), subject to adjustments.
Payment, in a mix of stock and cash, could include an additional 400 million reais, depending on performance-based indicators over the four years ending in December 2016.
"Brazil has a positive growth rate (for PCs) even in the current relatively volatile environment," Lenovo chief financial officer Waiming Wong told Reuters in an interview. "If we really go for the high growth market, the big market, Brazil is obviously the candidate."
Lenovo's purchase of CCE, Brazil's
largest domestic manufacturer of electronics such as PCs, DVD players and stereos, will allow the Chinese company to nearly
double its share of the PC market in the world's sixth-largest economy.
The deal will also
add mobile phones and televisions to Lenovo's product line in Brazil, where it recently announced plans to build a
$30 million factory, helping it expand beyond its current focus on the corporate sector.
"In order to win in Brazil long term you have to have
local manufacturing," Wong said, adding that the acquisition would boost Lenovo
into third place in Brazil's PC market from 7th place currently. "When CCE came along, it definitely was a good fit."
The deal highlights the growing, yet uneven trade ties between Brazil and China, two large emerging economies. While Brazil benefited over the past decade from China's voracious demand for raw materials such as iron ore and soybeans, Chinese exports of manufactured products have hurt Brazilian industry.
The acquisition, which Lenovo expects to close in the first quarter of 2013, also comes at a time when Brazil's once-booming economy has lost steam.
Lenovo values the Brazilian market for PCs, smartphones, tablets and SmartTVs at $124 billion.
CCE, controlled by privately held Digibras, runs seven factories in Brazil and posted 1.6 billion reais
($788 million) in revenue in 2011. The company said it produced
774,000 PCs last year and expects to assemble 887,000 in 2012.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/09/ ... nologyNews
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