Lenovo and Compal create China JV

Lenovo Group (0092.HK), China’s biggest laptop computer maker, is forming a joint venture with Taiwan-based Compal Electronics (2324.TW) to make laptops in China, boosting its share price up 11% on the news, Bloomberg reported. The two firms could invest a total US$300 million in the Hefei-based JV, which expects to begin “full-scale” production by the end of next year. Lenovo would own 51% of the entity, and Compal the remaining 49%. Levnovo bought the PC business of IBM in 2005 and Medion this year in a bid to expand its global operations. The firm accounted for 12% of global PC shipments during the second quarter of 2011. It hopes to surpass Dell (DELL.NASDAQ, 4331.HK) this year as the world’s second-biggest global vendor, whose share of the market has slopped from 12.5% to 11.9% – though it would still trail the market leader, Hewlett-Packard (HPQ.NYSE), which accounts for 17.5% of the market.