Hewlett-Packard said Thursday that it sold a controlling 51 percent interest in its China-based server, storage and technology services business to a subsidiary of Tsinghua University for $2.43 billion.
The assets will be part of a new business called H3C, which will combine the existing Chinese H3C Technologies and HP s China server and storage business under one roof. H3C will be a subsidiary of Unisplendour, which is a subsidiary of Tsinghua Holdings, the asset management arm of Tsinghua University. H3C Technologies, a networking provider, is a long-time distributor for HP services in China.
Tsinghua University is playing a key role in the Chinese government s latest push to develop and grow a native Chinese tech industry.
Following the combination, HP China will maintain total ownership of its China-based Enterprise Services, Software, HP Helion Cloud, Aruba Networks, Printing and Personal Systems businesses, the company said in a statement.
Meg Whitman, chairman and CEO of HP, called it a bold move to win in today s china.
The new company will have about 8,000 employees, $3.1 billion in annual revenues and will offer a complete portfolio of enterprise IT services, HP said.
Robert Mao will remain chairman of HP China, which includes HP s enterprise services, software and cloud business in China. Henry Tso will continue to lead H3C Technologies networking business and Ye Jian will lead the HP server, storage and technology end of things.
Weiguo Zhao, chairman of Tsinghua Unigroup and Unisplendour said he sees extensive synergies in the new partnership.
The deal closes toward the end of 2015, HP said, subject to a Unisplendor shareholder vote and regulatory approval.
Photo: Meg Whitman, Chairman and CEO of Hewlett-Packard (LiPo Ching/Mercury News)
