China Oceanwide buys 29% stake in Lenovo parent Legend

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2009-09-08 20:18

BEIJING: China Oceanwide Holdings Group, a private investment firm, on Tuesday bought a 29 percent stake in Legend Holdings, the parent company of the world's No. 4 PC maker, Lenovo.

Vice president of Legend Holdings Zhu Linan announced the transaction Tuesday, saying Oceanwide bought the stake for 2.76 billion yuan ($404.1 million) through the Beijing Equity Exchange, making it the No. 3 share holder in Legend.

Lu Zhiqiang, chairman of Oceanwide, joined the Legend board at a meeting on Tuesday, which also elected Liu Chuanzhi board chairman.

"Legend is aiming at a stock market listing," said Liu.

He said the stock regulations in the mainland prevented a parent company from listing, if it has already had its subsidiary listed. However, the Hong Kong stock market does not have this restriction.

Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) Holdings, the controlling holder in Legend Holdings, quoted its holding of 29 percent of shares in Legend Holdings on the China Beijing Equity Exchange on August 7.

Deng Maicun, general manager of CAS Holdings, said the equity transfer was part of the company's reform to transform it from it from a State-owned company to a share-holding company.

Before the quotation, CAS Holdings owned 65 percent of Legend Holding's shares, while the remaining 35 percent was held by Legend Holdings' Employee Share-holding Union.