Lenovo and NEC confirm the merger of their PC divisions

What started as rumour a few days ago has today been made official: Lenovo and NEC will merge their PC activities, with the result making them the third largest PC manufacturer in the world.

Its official: the rumour that a merger between Lenovo and NEC’s computer divisions would take place has now become reality with the new entity to be the world’s third largest computer manufacturer, and number one in Japan.

The joint venture will be named NEC Lenovo Japan Group and will be driven by Lenovo NEC Holdings, with their head office being in the Netherlands. The Chinese group will hold 51% of the entity while the Japanese will control 49%.

NEC executive Hideyo Takasu will head up the new organisation while the president of the board of directors will be a member of Lenovo Japan - Roderick Lappin. The new company will merge together Lenovo and NEC’s PC divisions, with NEC to receive 175 million dollars in Lenovo shares as compensation to make the deal equal.


A merger that is just the beginning
As previously seen, this initiative will allow Lenovo, the world’s fourth largest computer manufacturer, to get a strong foothold in the Japanese market while NEC will get access to the rest of the world, as their main presence is Japan where they are the largest player.

Once the transaction has been approved, by the 30th of June 2011, the PC divisions of these two companies will merge their activities. Preparation work will begin immediately between the companies to prepare the transition, with Lenovo and NEC’s current brands and product lines to remain the same.

The merger doesn’t end here: the two companies are already in discussions about other joint ventures which could lead to the development and release of tactile tablets.