Lenovo to issue $2bn bonds and set up base in Saudi Arabia amid kingdom’s tech push – The National

Lenovo to issue $2bn bonds and set up base in Saudi Arabia amid kingdom’s tech push – The National

Lenovo, the world’s biggest maker of personal computers, will issue $2 billion in convertible bonds to Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund as part of a broad investment agreement that is expected to boost the kingdom’s technological ambitions.The agreement was signed with Alat, the technology-focused arm of the Public Investment Fund, Lenovo said on Tuesday.The deal includes the setting up of Lenovo’s Middle East and Africa head office in Riyadh, which will include a research and development centre, adding to a growing number of global companies that have set up strategic centres in the Arab world’s biggest economy.The kingdom will also become home to a new PC and server manufacturing plant, adding to the more than 30 such factories Lenovo has globally.The partnership will allow Lenovo to tap into “significant resources and financial flexibility to further accelerate our transformation and grow our business by capitalising on the incredible growth momentum in the MEA region”, its chairman and chief executive Yuanqing Yang said.The proceeds of the convertible bonds will be used to repay debt and generate working capital, Lenovo said.They are due in three years and will be convertible to equity at maturity at an initial conversion price of 10.42 Hong Kong