EU gives thumbs up to Packard Bell sale

FRESH from spanking Microsoft, EU trust regulators have given the thumbs up to the purchase of Netherlands-based PC maker Packard Bell by Taiwan's Acer.

The European Commission said it had looked closely at the deal and decided that it would not pose competition concerns.

The market is fair chock a block with rivals including Lenovo, Sony and Dell.

Acer is not the direct buyer of Packard Bell, it is its recently purchased subsidiary Gateway.

Snarling at the bit will be the Chinese maker of laptops Lenovo. The Acer move was widely seen as an attempt at preventing the Chinese computer maker from buying Packard Bell to gain a foothold in the European market. Acer does pretty well in Europe in the laptop market. µ

L'Inq
New York Times