Gateway Suitor Mulls Options

Gateway(GTW) isn't interested, but Lap Shun Hui is not giving up.

A few days after his unsolicited $450 million buyout offer for a chunk of the PC maker was dismissed, a spurned Hui says he's reviewing his options.

Hui made his surprise acquisition offer last month, saying he was interested in buying only the company's retail operations. He also proposed buying the entire company outright and splitting the retail consumer PC business from the rest of the company on his own.

According to Hui, the retail PC business has a different business model and profit margins than Gateway's corporate and direct sales PC businesses. He also criticized the company for failing to appoint a permanent CEO six months after the unexpected resignation of former chief Wayne Inouye.

Hui founded eMachines, which Gateway acquired in 2004 for $290 million.

Gateway's shares surged more than 15% on the day Hui's offer was made public.

On Friday, Gateway said its board had concluded that Hui's offer "is not in the best interest of shareholders," after careful consideration and in consultation with its financial and legal advisors.

But Hui seemed to suggest in a brief reply Tuesday that his offer was not given serious consideration by Gateway's board.

"I am disappointed that Gateway's board made a decision to reject the offer without engaging in any discussions with me to either refine the terms of my proposal for the purchase of Gateway's retail operations or to discuss alternative acquisition proposals," Hui said in a statement.

Shares of Gateway were up 1.6%, or 3 cents, to $1.93 in recent trading.

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