Gateway beats Lenovo to buy Packard Bell

 

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By Stuart Turton

Posted on 9 Oct 2007 at 10:38

Gateway has put in a binding offer for Packard Bell, bringing to an end Lenovo's long interest in acquiring the company.

The deal will be financed by Acer as part of the planned merger between the two companies announced on 27 August. Now, Gateway just needs to convince the Works Councils in France and the Netherlands to push the deal through their respective antitrust regulations.

The acquisition follows months of wrangling which initially saw Lenovo emerge as the strong favourite to take over Packard Bell, only to falter when Gateway crashed the party by exercising its right to first refusal on the company, despite being itself the subject of a potential $710 million takeover bid from Acer.

That deal has yet to be completed, but when it goes through it will see Acer unseat Lenovo as the world's third largest PC maker.

The acquisition is anticipated to close sometime in the fourth quarter of 2007 or the first quarter of 2008.