Chinese PC manufacturer Lenovo has once again indicated it is interested in a potential BlackBerry deal, sending shares in the Canadian smartphone company soaring on Monday.
Speaking to French newspaper Les Echos, Lenovo CEO Yang Yuanqing admitted that a buyout might be on the cards as the company seeks to gain more traction in the western mobile market.
He said that a deal "could possibly make sense, but first I need to analyze the market and understand what exactly the importance of this company is."
The inflammatory comments come after CFO Wong Wai Ming told Bloomberg in January that Lenovo was "looking at all opportunities," one of which was BlackBerry.
Rescue operation?
When Lenovo first publicly admitted its potential interest in buying the former mobile kingpin, BlackBerry CEO Thorsten Heins didn't exactly deny the possibility of a a partnership.
Heins, who in the past has not ruled out investment, a buyout or licensing BlackBerry 10 to other manufacturers said: "As always with these topics, we will talk about things when they are ready to be talked about and ready to be announced.
"There are other constituents in the process that need to be involved - if there would be anything."
How willing RIM is to sell-up, accept investment or entertain a takeover bid remains to be seen.
Rather than crying over its fall from grace, the company has been on a PR offensive since it launched the first handsets running BB10 on January 30, claiming strong early sales, while setting its sights on place in the mobile OS race.
Fair share
Monday's comments boosted the company formerly-known-as-RIM's share price, sending it up 14 per cent.
Shares are up 26 per cent overall in 2013, Bloomberg reports, following a long period in the doldrums.
The next we may hear on the matter of Lenovo's interests is when Heins delivers the company's quarterly results to investors in a conference call on March 28.
That's unless Lenovo continues to continue to speak publicly on the matter.
Via Bloomberg
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