IBM, which took a big stake in Lenovo as part of its selling PC operations to that company in 2004, is looking to sell a big chunk of that original investment.
IBM (NYSE: IBM) took a 17 percent stake in Lenovo at the time of the PC deal which was worth $1.75 billion, including $500 million in debt absorption by IBM.
Lenovo bought back more than 435 million shares from IBM in 2005. At that time, IBM’s stake in Lenovo was reduced to 13 percent. Lenovo paid $152 million for the shares.
Big Blue also sold more Lenovo shares in 2001.
This time, IBM is offering to sell up to $150 million in Lenovo shares at a discount up to 6.4 percent off Wednesday’s closing price in Hong Kong, according to Reuters which cited a Thomson Reuters publication, IFR, as the source.
Lenovo shares traded at around 80 cents U.S. Wednesday.
Goldman Sachs is handling the deal, according to the term sheet.
