Chinese science institute to sell shares of Lenovo

A state owned academy which owns a chunk of shares in Lenovo has put them up for sale.

According to a report in the Wall Street Journal, the Chinese Academy of Sciences holds 36 percent of Legend Holdings. Legend in turn owns 42.3 percent of Lenovo.

The Academy, said the Journal, wants someone to pay over $400 million for the shares, on condition that the buyer doesn’t meddle with Lenovo for five years.

Last week Lenovo turned in a $16 million loss for its latest financial quarter and said that the market was still challenging. Many of Lenovo’s sales come from notebooks and those sales are being hit because of the trend for people to buy netbooks.