Haier to buy GE appliance unit

China’s Haier Group agreed to buy General Electric (GE) appliance business for $5.4 Billion. This will be the country biggest acquisition of an overseas electronics company. Buying a century old business that makes $8500 refrigerators from the likes of GE would underscore the rise of a Chinese company once known for making cheap fridge for college dormitories.

It also highlights Haier global ambitions as the acquisition would help the company expand in the US, one the markets it is trying to focus on besides Europe and Japan. This acquisition surpasses state backed Tsinghua Holding plans for a $3.8 Billion investment in Western Digital Corp announced last year and Lenovo Group $2.8 Billion acquisition of Motorola Mobility Group in 2014.

Midea is China biggest manufacturer of appliances with a 17% share of the country market in 2015 followed by Qingdao Haier with 7.9% Euromonitor International Data show. Haier had a 11% share of the US appliance market last year. GE and Haier will also cooperate in industrial internet, healthcare and advanced manufacturing. Both companies will also work together to develop and grow affordable consumer health initiatives in China. 

Binatone acquire Gecko Maker Connovate

Binatone communications Group is a Hong Kong based consumer electronics and Personal Care Products Company. Connovate Technologies is a Bangalore based startup company and the maker of Gecko device. Gecko is a Bluetooth device. Recently, Binatone has acquired Connovate Technology for an undisclosed amount.

After this deal, Connovate will merge with Binatone subsidiary Hubble connected and will get access to the 1500 stores in United States and 1000 in Europe that Binatone has a presence in. Gecko will be bundled with home, pet, and baby monitoring solutions that Binatone sells under Motorola brand. Connovate becomes the first Indian Startup to have an exit in the inter of things domain, a technology that represents a truly connected world where all devices talk to one another.

Last year, in November Connovate had raised $135,410 through the crowd-funding platform Indiegogo. At the time, it had also received pre-orders for 7500 devices, mostly from US, UK, and Germany, including 500 from India. Gecko allows people to control and spot various objects around them using a smartphone. Besides tracking, the device can also be used to trigger a camera, change music using gestures, motion detection, and smart leash.

Connovate other product is Weight Smart, which is quite similar to FItbit Aria except that it uses Bluetooth instead of Wi-Fi. The device comes with its own custom app using which a person can log weight and even connected to Run Keeper to create some actionable information from it. Gecko is a coin-size, square shaped device that connects with the smartphone via Bluetooth and allows users to control multiple things such as household items and electronic appliances through the smartphone.

Foreign companies are looking for acquiring startups in India to grow their business. Yahoo had acquired Bookpad a US based startup with operation in Bangalore. Facebook acquired Little Eye Labs Pvt. Ltd. in January. Google acquired Impermium, and Naspers Ltd. acquired online bus ticketing company RedBus in 2013.

Lenovo acquired Motorola from Google

In January this year, Lenovo announced it was going to buy Motorola Mobility business this year from Google. Now this deal is signed, Lenovo acquired Motorola from Google in $2.91 Billion. While Motorola is now a Lenovo Company, the brand will remain a subsidiary based out of Chicago. Google bought Motorola in 2012 for $12.5 Billion, at the time stating that it was interested in its patent portfolio. Now, Google maintains most of the patents and passes on the handset business to Lenovo.

Motorola Mobility, a Google company, creates mobile devices and wireless accessories that simplify, connect and enrich people lives. The acquisition of such an iconic brand, innovate product portfolio and incredibly talented global team will immediately make Lenovo a strong global competitor in smartphones. This deal made Lenovo the world’s third bestselling smartphone maker after Apple and Samsung.

Lenovo is the world’s bestselling PC maker, a position it attained after the takeover of IBM’s personal computer business in 2005. Its smartphones are already selling in Asia and the Middle East, but they have not been sold in North America and Western Europe. Lenovo and Motorola together form the third largest smartphone player worldwide, pushing rival Xiaomi from the No 3 position to No 4, according to date from IDC.

IDC worldwide smartphone data showed Samsung leading with 23.8%, followed by Apple with 12%, Xiaomi with 5.3%, and Lenovo following closely with 5.2%, and LG with 5.1%. Lenovo has a very good business in India through the offline channel and Motorola is present only on line. Since its resurrection early this year, Motorola has sold more than two million smartphones, including the Moto G, Moto X, and Moto E. The Motorola-Lenovo combine intends to sell about 100 Million smartphones and tablets globally by the end of march next year, while Lenovo aims to bring Motorola back to profitability within four to six quarters.

Motorola will operate their Motorola solutions as a separate business and is not a part of acquisitions. Motorola business formally split in 2011.