Chinese telecom service provider AsiaInfo Holdings Ltd said on late Sunday that its acquisition of the IT service unit of the Chinese computer giant Lenovo Group has concluded, which will pave the way for it to become one of the biggest IT service providers in China.

The NASDAQ-listed Chinese company said in a filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission on Monday to approve the deal that was concluded last Tuesday.

AsiaInfo signed an agreement with Lenovo on July 27 to acquire the latter's IT service unit at a price of US$36.3 million.

The unit and AsiaInfo's IT service arm will form a new company named Lenovo-AsiaInfo Technologies Inc.

Lenovo received an estimated 15 per cent stake in AsiaInfo from the deal.

AsiaInfo said on Monday that Yu Bing, senior vice-president of Lenovo and CEO of Lenovo-AsiaInfo, was appointed as principal director in the company.

The number of AsiaInfo's directors also increased from nine to 10 with the appointment.

After the announcement, AsiaInfo's stock price rose 2.1 per cent to US$4.87 on Tuesday.

"Looking forward, Lenovo-AsiaInfo will drive growth by leveraging Lenovo's leading brand name, sales network and existing customer base to create cross-marketing opportunities for AsiaInfo's leading customer solutions across multiple industries beyond telecom," said Zhang Xingsheng, president and CEO of AsiaInfo.

AsiaInfo said previously that Lenovo-AsiaInfo will add 40 to 50 per cent of net revenues to AsiaInfo in a year after the completion of the deal.

(China Daily October 27, 2004)