Lenovo repurchases mobile phone arm

Lenovo has bought back the mobile phone arm that it sold to a private equity firm at the start of 2008, the company said on Friday.

The manufacturer sold Lenovo Mobile to the Hony Group for $100m just under two years ago, and has now bought it back for $200m in cash and stock.

According to the company, Lenovo Mobile is the number three handset maker in China.

"As Lenovo's global PC business continues to make steady progress, we view mobile Internet as a key growth opportunity moving forward globally," group CEO Yang Yuanqing said in a statement.

"Lenovo has prepared itself in this area. We have developed first class products with excellent hardware and operating systems integration. We will launch these innovative new products in China soon."

Explaining why it was reversing its plan of focusing on its core PC business, Lenovo said in its statement that the "acquisition reflects the changed market conditions of the past 18 months".