Business
Gateway Moves to Buy Packard Bell, Acer Moves to Buy Gateway
Gateway is offering approximately $44 million for Packard Bell shares while Acer is preparing its final offer to buy Gateway for $710 million.
Gateway executives had confirmed on Oct. 8 that they would move ahead with an offer to buy Packard Bell, which is based in Paris and is one of the largest PC vendors in Europe. While Acer, headquartered in Taiwan, announced last week that it will deliver its final offer for Gateway on Oct. 10, which means that the company will likely finalize the deal by the end of the month.
The deal also means that Lenovo, which has been interested in Packard Bell to help expand its presence in Europe, won’t get a chance to acquire the company. A spokesman for Lenovo could not be reached for comment late Monday.
Acer will finance Gateway’s acquisition of Packard Bell, which could close either late in the fourth quarter of 2007 or in the first quarter of 2008, according to the statement. The deal is subject to regulators in the United States and Europe.
When Acer completes the Gateway deal, the acquisition looks to create the world’s third largest PC vendor. The combined revenue of the two companies is expected to top more than $15 billion and their combined shipments will equal out to about 20 million desktops and laptops annually.
