ConsumerIT - For Europe's High Volume PC Retailers, Distributors & Builders

Czech finance group PPF buys out all of Russian retailer Eldorado for an undisclosed price tag Russian paper Kommersant says totals $625M.

PPF says Russian competition authorities already approve of the buyout.

According to the Financial Times, Eldorado's sale took months of efforts-- Eldorado co-owner and founder Igor Yakovlev's pulled out of selling for at least 3 times beforehand.

PPF (owner of Eldorado's main consumer credit partners) bought 50% of the Russian retailer back in October 2008, via financing worth $400-800M requiring Eldorado stock as security-- a surprisingly low sum considering how once Eldorado's 1500+ chain was once estimated at nearly $5Bn.

2009 saw PPF (and Italian insurance firm Generali) converting $300M of Eldorado debt into a controlling stake in the retailer.

PPF is not the first company taking an interest in Eldorado's business-- in 2005 Dixons expressed interest in buying Eldorado for £1Bn. The plan was abandoned 2 years later due to "political, corporate and economic risks."

What now for Eldorado? Analysts predict the sale could prove to be a positive for its market presence, so long it doesn't change its pricing policies to much...

Go PPF Group Takes Full Control of Eldorado

Go Eldorado Leans on PPF

Go Czech Tycoon Strikes Gold with Eldorado (FT.com)

It's true: even the leader of the PC business wants out. In a decision that makes competitor IBM look like it really is from a "smarter planet," Hewlett-Packard now confirms it wants to sell off its PC business, the HP Personal Systems Group. If it can't sell HP PSG, it may spin out the division.

Where is that line between being proud and being arrogant? HP is like last year's Prom Queen... It must grate on HP that the pissant Apple now is bigger and has more cash...that IBM looks smarter as it dumped PCs ages ago... and that Google came out of nowhere to become "The Company That Everyone Hates, I Mean Envies." Even Facebook gets more glory these days than the Number One in PCs and peripherals.

HP PSG at $41 billion represents nearly a third of the company’s overall revenue but only 13% of the group’s earnings from operations. Yep, it takes home a pittance from all that work to face Wall Street each quarter and report on the roller coaster known as PC hardware.

The new CEO Léo Apotheker is the ex-CEO of SAP, and never a lover of hardware. His new, announced plan:

• Move HP into higher value, higher margin growth categories
• Sharpen HP’s focus on its strategic priorities of cloud, solutions and software with an emphasis on enterprise, commercial and government markets
• Increase investment in innovation to drive differentiation

This also means HP will kill the WebOS device business. Their announcement says TouchPad and webOS phones are to die, but the implication is  WebOS software may be sold while still alive.

In another strategic move, HP is already in discussions to buy Autonomy Corp., the database search software company.

All these moves would seem to reshape HP into an enterprise software and services company. Just like IBM.

Oddly enough, HP's announcement to get out of hardware will probably add more pressure to Google's decision to acquire Motorola Mobility.

Intel pushes the "Ultrabook" concept further, releasing its reference designs and creating an Ultrabook fund worth $300 million.

Ultrabooks will come in 2 types-- an 18mm thick model with a 11 - 13" screen, and a 21mm thick model with a 14 - 17" screen.

Intel promises Ultrabook price points will be more mainstream than those of Apple's Macbook Air models, making them more attractive to customers.

Meanwhile the Ultrabook fund will invest directly in Intel's OEM partners and over the next 3-4 years-- specifically in companies working on user interfaces (via sensors and touch), battery technology and strorage capacity gains.

Ultrabooks to see release this year will carry 2nd generation Intel Core processors and will hit the market by Q4 2011.

"Ivy Bridge" will follow the first Ultrabook generation in 2012, carrying "improved power efficiency, smart visual performance, increased responsiveness and enhanced security," and "Haswell" in 2013 should improve on power consumption and thermal design points.

Go Intel Capital Creats $300M Ultrabook Fund

Go Intel Creates "Ultrabook" Category

Customers wanting to boost their tablets' sound might just get what they want with Logitech's Tablet Speaker, a clip-on solution for their audio problems.

A rubberised clip attaches the speaker to the tablet's back, while it connects to the device via 3.5mm headphone jack.

Logitech says the speaker has up to 8 hours of power, and the battery charges via USB.

The package also includes a travel case for easy storage.

Go Logitech Tablet Speaker