Acer Completes Gateway Acquisition

Acer has completed its $710 million acquisition of U.S. computer maker Gateway - and with it, computer maker Packard Bell.

Taiwanese computer maker Acer announced today that it has successfully completed is acquisition of U.S. computer maker Gateway—and with it, in a slick bit of corporate maneuvering, Packard Bell. Acer announced it has acquired enough shares of Gateway to close the deal, and has received the necessarily regulatory approvals from government agencies, including the U.S. Committee on Foreign Investments in the United States (CFIUS). As of today, Gateway is no longer listed on the New York Stock Exchange.

“I want to thank all of the teams who have made this such a successful and swift transaction,” said Acer chairman and CEO J.T. Wang, in a statement. “Because of the friendly and cooperative spirit of this acquisition, we look forward to a seamless integration of Gateway. We welcome Ed Coleman and the talented team at Gateway, into the Acer family, and we are delighted by the enthusiasm with which Gateway employees and clients have reacted to joining our group.”

The Gateway acquisition puts Acer in a position to take on rivals Hewlett-Packard and Dell for a larger share of the North American computer market, and—through the Gateways’s related acquisition of Packard Bell—denies rival Lenovo the opportunity to expand its market presence in Europe through acquisition.

Gateway will continue to operate under its own name as a subsidiary of Acer, and expects to expand its overall range of products.