Lenovo To Complete Motorola Buy In 6-9 Months – CEO

Lenovo hopes to compete its acquisition of Motorola Mobility within the next six to nine months, the company’s CEO, Yang Yuanqing confirmed to reporters on Tuesday.

Speaking on the sidelines of the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Yuanging said that they were confident about turning around the struggling US phone maker.

“The problem is that Motorola’s expense to revenue ratio is too high,” he said. ” We are confident that we can increase volumes, and in turn increase revenues as well. That will help reduce that ratio.”

Chinese PC maker Lenovo first announced plans to acquire Motorola from Google for $2.9 billion in January.

“It is a very valuable asset and the best target for us,” he said. “It is a good asset, a good brand, has good carrier relationship and good talents.”

Nokia, recently acquired by Microsoft, was “too expensive” an asset, he added.

Motorola’s brand identity will be retained in certain markets where it is already popular, such as Western Europe and the US. However Lenovo is considering the use of a dual branding along the lines of “Moto by Lenovo” to help both the brands expand reach across various geographies, he said.

Jointly, the two brands will develop products to cater to customers across all price points.

“We are not planning any further haircuts since Google has already done that. We will retain the existing employees and consider how to leverage the business,” said Yuanqing.

Lenovo, which recently acquired IBM’s low-end server business, will now look to focus strongly on its mobile and enterprise businesses, said Yuanging. However, it will also maintain its PC business, which remains the company’s “cash-cow” he added.