Nec Grabs Share Of Packard Bell

NEC Corp. bought nearly 20 percent of Packard Bell Electronics Inc. in a $170 million deal that may broadly affect global competition in personal computers.

The investment, announced Wednesday, ties the leading seller of PCs in the United States with the leader in Japan. In worldwide sales last year, Packard Bell was No. 4 and NEC was No. 5.

The deal should give NEC help in the home PC market at a time when its dominance in Japan is giving way to U.S.-labeled computers and operating software.

Packard Bell’s image will be helped by the lustrous engineering reputation of NEC, which is also one of the world’s largest makers of computer chips and other electronics devices.

In addition, Packard Bell gets cash it has been seeking to further its speedy growth. Chairman Beny Alagem acknowledged for the first time that the private company had been looking to outside investors for capital and said it would no longer need to do so.