Irvine-based Gateway Inc.,or rather pending parent company Acer Inc.,is buying European computer maker Packard Bell BV.
Terms of the deal weren’t disclosed.
The deal is related to Acer’s own buy of Gateway for $710 million.
Gateway had the right to buy Packard Bell, the Netherlands-based PC maker owned by Orange County businessman Lap-Shun “John” Hui.
Acer, which is funding the Packard Bell buy, decided to exercise that right to keep rival Lenovo Group Ltd. from buying Packard Bell as a way to gain entry into Europe.
Hui who sold Irvine’s eMachines to Gateway in 2004 for $290 million and once was Gateway’s second largest shareholder after founder Ted Waitt.
He sold his stake to buy Packard Bell last year. To do so, he struck a deal with Gateway to get out of a noncompete pact by giving Gateway the right of first refusal to buy any of his companies before selling to a rival.
The Packard Bell deal is set to close sometime in the fourth quarter or first quarter.
Acer’s buy of Gateway is in the final stages. Acer has bought about 80% of Gateway’s shares and recently extended the deadline to buy the rest until Wednesday.
