Lenovo Group has agreed to sell its mobile unit for US$100 million to four companies, the group announced yesterday.

Lenovo will sell the unit to Jade Ahead, LEV Ventures, Ample Growth and Super Pioneer.

Jade Ahead will hold a 45 percent of the stake and Ample Growth will take 15 percent. They are subsidiaries of Hony Capital, a private equity firm controlled by Lenovo.

LEV Ventures will hold 30 percent and Super Pioneer the remaining 10 percent. Both are private companies owned by entrepreneur Yang Xiangyang.

Lenovo Group will sell the intellectual property rights and trademarks of its mobile unit.

The trademark and name of Lenovo Mobile will not be changed, according to the announcement.

Lenovo Mobile has registered capital of 187.5 million yuan (US$26.04 million) and net assets of 290.4 million yuan. Its sales slide 31 percent year on year to US$108 million in the third quarter ended December 31, accounting for two percent of the group's total sales.

The net profit of the unit is 29.3 million yuan at the end of 2007, the announcement said.

Lenovo Group Ltd. is Asia's second-largest maker of personal computers. The Hong Kong listed company tripled profit in January after increasing sales to customers in the U.S., India and China.

The group's net income rose to US$171.7 million, or 1.76 cents per share, in the third quarter in 2007, from US$57.7 million a year earlier.

(Shanghai Daily January 31, 2008)