Having already bought the PC business from IBM Lenovo is in the business for more. They have there eyes on Packard Bell as the next target.

Packard Bell has a different profile from IBM, at least in the UK, where they are predominantly sold as cheap high street PCs.

People who don't want to shop online  go into the warehouse/supermarket. What they want is probably some beautiful Sony or even Apple, what they look at is something like a Toshiba or HP.. then as the salesmen comes round what they end up with is an overpriced E-Machine or a Packard Bell.

Packard Bell, legally headquartered in the Netherlands, is the fifth-largest consumer PC manufacturer in western Europe, with sales of around £1.5bn ($2.06bn) last year, writes Pan Kwan Yuk in Paris.

According to Gartner, the market research group, Packard had about 3 per cent of the consumer PC market in western Europe, having sold about 830,000 units in 2006.

"Packard's strong retail presence in the UK and France would be of interest to Lenovo, which is trying to move into the consumer PC market in Europe," said Ranjit Atwal, a senior analyst at Gartner. "Packard is seen as a stepping stone into the European market."

So buying them should be fairly easy... just as long as they don't end up paying twice twice as much for an extended warranty and credit agreement.

Source Financial Times

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