Lenovo retires from Mobile Phone and Windows Mobile business
Thursday, January 31, 2008 12:39
China’s Lenovo Group has signed a conditional sales and purchase agreement to sell its entire interest in its mobile handset business to a private equity group led by Hony Capital, the private equity arm of Legend Holdings, for US$100 million.
The business sells mobile handsets and related equipment predominantly in China, but has seen sales drop by 31% over the past year. The company reported in its annual results that handset shipments generated sales of US$108 million, or 2% of total sales, as the handset business continues to represent a smaller portion of total sales.
Legend Holdings itself also owns just over 42% of the Lenovo Group, so this transaction seems to be more of a general housekeeping issue as opposed to a real transfer of the company to new owners. The Chinese Academy of Sciences, a Chinese government agency, owns 65% of Legend Holdings.
