Lenovo Grants NEC Permission to Sell Up to 281 Million Shares

Lenovo Group Ltd. (992) has waived a restriction that prohibited Japan’s NEC Corp. (6701) from selling 281.1 million of the Chinese company’s shares, according to a statement to Hong Kong’s stock exchange yesterday.

Lenovo issued the shares to NEC in exchange for a 51 percent stake in a joint-venture between the two companies. The shares were subject to a so-called lock-up restriction that prohibited NEC from selling them until two years after the deal closed on July 1, 2011, according to the statement.

The shares are worth HK$1.86 billion ($240 million) at Lenovo’s closing price of HK$6.62 yesterday. The Hong Kong Economic Journal yesterday reported that NEC is seeking to sell the entire stake at a discount of as much as 4.8 percent to the closing price.

To contact the reporter on this story: Mohammed Hadi in Hong Kong at mhadi1@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Mohammed Hadi at mhadi1@bloomberg.net