In 1984, Legend was established.

With an investment of RMB200,000 by the Institute of Computing Technology (ICT) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Liu Chuanzhi and 10 other researchers set up the ICT New Technology Development Company in a porter’s lodge in the year of 1984, which marked the starting-up of Legend. Little did they know about the market, from ICT to the right of staffing, financing and decision making, the young pioneers managed to run their business at the beginning of China’s reform and opening-up.

In 1985，the Chinese Character Card was launched.

In 1985, Legend launched its first hit product, the Chinese Character Card, and received the National Prize for Progress in Science and Technology (first class).

In 1986, Legend broke new ground of agency business.

Since 1986, Legend had worked as an agency for IBM, AST, HP and other international PC brands, so as to accumulate investment capital, gain market understanding as well as learning from foreign companies on their management experience, hence laying grounds for the launch of PCs under its own brand.

Legend Hong Kong was established in 1988

In 1988, Legend made its first open recruitment.

With a recruitment notice on China Youth Daily, Legend started its open recruitment in May 1988, attracting a group of fresh graduates and postgraduates including Yang Yuanqing and Guo Wei. Their joining injected new energy into the business. Later they all grew into the backbone of Legend.

In 1990, the Proprietary PC was launched.

Despite policy restrictions on the manufacturing of PCs under self-owned brands, Legend was dedicated to developing PCs of Chinese brand. Since the establishment of Legend Hong Kong in 1988, Legend accumulated capital through international trade and gained knowledge of the overseas market step by step, consequently setting up its manufacturing of motherboards featuring the integration of technology, production and sales. Rising sales to the European and US markets led to an increasingly enlarged scale of production. Following its successful debut on CeBIT in Hannover in 1990, Legend’s self-branded PC obtained the manufacturing license and was launched in the domestic market in the same year.

In 1994, the PC Division was set up and Lenovo was listed in Hong Kong.

The 1990s saw great changes in the domestic PC market, when China lifted the bar of import approval and slashed tariff. The consequent influx of international PC brands posed threats to domestic producers and prompt concerns about the future of Legend. Determined to carry through the self-owned PC brand and based on prudent planning, Legend carried out restructuring in 1994 to form the PC Division. Yang Yuanqing, then 29-year-old, was appointed as General Manager. He leveraged channel partners and competed head-to-head with overseas PC giants. In the same year, Lenovo was listed on the Stock Exchange of Hong Kong with the stock code as HK0992.

In 1997, Lenovo PC became No. 1 in China by market share.

Through years of practice and exploration, Legend drew important learning of management and the industry. For the first time, it ranked No. 1 by market share in China in 1997.

In 1997, Beijing and Hong Kong business was integrated.

In 1995, Lenovo Hong Kong reported a significant loss of HKD 195 million. The profit made in the previous three years vanished. Thought difficult, Lenovo raised funds and started company restructuring. In an effort to improve productivity and form unity of command, Beijing and Hong Kong business was integrated in 1997, under which the three business sectors of PC, agency and system integration of Beijing were injected into Hong Kong. A unified Lenovo was enabled to develop healthily from then on.

In 2000, Lenovo PC gained the largest market share in the Asia-Pacific region (excluding Japan).

In 2001, Legend spun off.

In order to promote more focused growth of its two major business, fully reflect its core value of ‘people-orientation’, and give full play to the leaders’ initiative and creativity, the company spun off in 2001 into Lenovo (HK0992) to be engaged in own-branded business and Digital China (HK0861) to specialize in agency services, distribution and system integration. Liu Chuanzhi gave the command of companies to two young leaders, Guo Wei and Yang Yuanqing. The success of the spin-off fully embodies sound management and cultural foundation the company has. It is also one of the major driving forces that enables the continuous growth of Lenovo and Digital China ever after.

Digital China, after the spin-off, was listed on the mainboard of Hong Kong Stock Exchange on June 1, 2001.

In 2001, Legend Holdings carried out shareholding reform.

With strong support from its major shareholder Chinese Academy of Sciences, the Employee Shareholding Association took stake of 35% of equity by way of purchasing the company shares, marking the completion of the first step of shareholding reform. The founders and the key staff became true owners of the company. Legend spent 8 years to finish the reform from dividend right to equity, blazing a trail of ownership reform for all high-tech enterprises under scientific research institutes in China.

In 2001, Legend Capital was established.

In order to guard itself against the possible high risks in the high-tech industry, Leveraging its own experience and management expertise, Legend Holdings set out to tap a new business domain in the model of ‘Capital + Management’ so as to promote domestic start-ups.

On March 26, 2001, Legend entered the VC (Venture Capital) sector by setting up Legend Investment Capital with an initial capital of USD 35 million.

Zhu Linan led a group of people with manufacturing background and started practising, innovating, and reviewing. By understanding the Chinese characteristics, they gradually developed some systematic approaches of making VC investment, consequently boosting the growth of a number of outstanding start-ups in China.

As an advance detachment that entered the investment field, Legend Capital built up confidence for Legend to carry out other investments and laid a solid foundation for success. After a decade, Legend Capital has, now grown into a leading VC firm, yielded high returns for investors and won wide praise from the industry.

With the vision of ‘to grow into a most valuable, respectable and influential VC firm’, Legend Capital is committed to promoting development and innovation of enterprises by leveraging capital and management, so as to play an active part in the industrial and social progress. It seeks to help partners build up their undertaking and to share the success.

In 2001, Raycom Real Estate was established.

In 2003, Hony Capital was established.

In 2003, Legend entered the PE (Private Equity) sector and set up Hony Capital.

‘Investment is all about investing in people.’ Through pooling the quality capital from home and abroad, Hony Capital worked to grow together with the investee companies and yield returns during the course so as to further contribute to the economic development of China.

Under the leadership of President ZHAO John Huan and by following the philosophy of ‘Create Value. Realize price’, Hony Capital has developed into a leading brand in the PE sector in China.

Hony Capital strives to build a respectable and trustworthy forever-standing PE brand with absolute domestic leading edge and global influence.

In 2003, Legend Holdings established the corporate vision.

With the mission of serving the nation and society through developing successful businesses across industries, Legend Holdings is committed to becoming a respected and trusted global holding company, with equity in leading enterprises in multiple industries and international influence.

In 2003, Lenovo announced the new logo ‘Lenovo’.

Legend changed the corporate logo from ‘Legend’ to ‘Lenovo’ in 2003.

The word “LENOVO” means the evolution and sublimation based on the existing brand equity. “LE” refers to the old English name of “LEGEND”; “NOVO” is an ancient Latin etymology which means innovation; therefore the new name “LENOVO” carries the implication of “innovative Legend”.

In 2003, Phylion Battery was established.

Phylion Battery was jointly established by Legend Capital, Beijing Xingheng Battery and Shenzhen Bailihong Technology Investment Co., Ltd., with its headquarters in Suzhou. It became a member company of Legend Holdings in 2008.

In 2004, Lenovo made an assault on two fronts and acquired IBM’s global PC business after defeating strong rivals.

After 2000, Lenovo’s core business encountered serious challenges from its foreign rivals’ direct-sell model, leading to declined market share and growing concerns from the public. At the beginning of 2004, Lenovo made a major shift in its strategy, deciding to focus on the PC business and to face off against competition with a ‘dual model’ in business growth. Through streamlining and redesigning its supply chain, channels, customers and products, Lenovo eventually beat all international rivals, thus laying a solid foundation for its internationalization.

On December 8, 2004, Lenovo took a key step in its effort of internationalization by announcing the acquisition of IBM’s global PC business for the purpose of entering the international arena and participating global competition. The deal, described by the public as ‘a snake trying to swallow an elephant’, not only opened a new horizon for Lenovo but also pioneered a path for China’s enterprises to go global.

In 2004, Lenovo became the first global partner of The Olympic Program (TOP) from China.

In 2004, the CSR Development Plan was established.

On its 20th anniversary, Legend Holdings established a CSR Development Plan to incorporate social responsibilities to the company’s development plan. It also started undertaking long-term planning and input to support start-ups, education and healthy tendencies.

In 2007, Digital China implemented the shareholding-restructuring plan

For the sake of long-term development and with full support from Legend Holdings, Digital China brought in new investors to optimize its governance structure and operational value further. Meanwhile, Legend Holdings encouraged the management team of Digital China to increase their shareholding so that their interest is aligned with corporate interest closely, therefore giving new impetus to its long-term growth of the company.

In 2008, Legend Star was established.

With multiple years of experience, Legend Holdings worked with CAS together and set up the Legend Institute of the CAS to identify and train entrepreneurs, incubate start-ups and facilitate industrialization of scientific research achievements. The Legend Star Entrepreneur/CEO Training Class organized by Legend Holdings was dedicated to resolve the bottleneck of talent issue during the course of conversion of scientific achievements, later more public train classes were organized such as Regional Short-Term Training Class and the Legend Star Start-up Lectures. Legend has over 30 years of business experience and resource accumulation. Today Legend Star has developed a model of “Angel Investment + In-depth Incubation”, winning high level of recognition from government and wide praises from the society.

In 2009, Lenovo reported a loss. Liu Chuanzhi resumed the reins and reversed the course.

At the beginning of 2009 due to the combined impact of the global financial crisis and internal management problems, Lenovo slid into a big loss along with a serious set-back in its internationalization. At this point, Liu Chuanzhi, founder of Legend, returned as the Chairman of Board, while Yang Yuanqing, the former-chairman, took the position of CEO. They took a series of measures, including setting up the top leadership team - the Lenovo Executive Committee (LEC), rolling out the ‘Protect-Attack’ strategy and building a new global corporate culture. The moves proved successful and turned the PC business from loss to profit in just two quarters.

In 2009, China Oceanwide Holdings Group (COHG) took stake in Legend Holdings.

In order to realize long-term stable and sustainable development and with full support from its major shareholder CAS, Legend Holdings brought in China Oceanwide Holdings Group (COHG) as a new shareholder successfully. The former ownership of CAS 65% vs. the Employee Shareholding Society 35% changed to CAS 36%, the Employee Shareholding Society 35%, and COHG 29%. The move optimized the corporate governance structure and injected new vigor into the company.

In 2010, Legend Holdings set out its Mid-term Development Strategy

With the corporate vision in front, Legend Holdings set out its mid-term development strategy as ‘to achieve leapfrog development through acquiring and building up core assets and become a listed holdings company in 5-7 years’, and developed a duel business model of ‘strategic investment + financial investment’. The strategic investment involved five sectors, including IT, financial services, innovative consumption and services, agriculture and food, and new materials. The financial investment covers angel investment, VC and PE and strives to build outstanding enterprises to achieve leapfrog development through its years of experience in ‘Industry + Investment’.

In 2010, Legend Holdings made strategic investment in Lakala.

Lakala received venture capital from Legend Capital right after its establishment. In 2010 Legend Holdings made strategic investment in it and helped it to grown through value-added services. Today it has become an integrated financial service platform, the second largest acquirer in China by transaction volume, and a top-three operator of 3rd-party mobile payment by transaction volume.

In 2010, Levmia Group was established.

Specialized in the chemical industry, Levima Group focuses on new materials development and targets at high-end materials and fine chemicals, striving to build a large-scale chemical industrial cluster with strong influence and overall competitiveness.

In 2010, Strategic investment in China Auto Rental (CAR).

CAR received angel A-round investment from Legend Capital in 2006. In 2010 Legend Holdings made strategic investment in it to spur its growth. It is the largest domestic car rental chain enterprise in China. On September 19, 2014, CAR was listed in Hong Kong with the stock code 0699.HK, becoming the first car rental service provider in China to go public.

In 2011, Liu Chuanzhi retired from the chairmanship of Lenovo, and led Legend Holdings to a new journey.

After returning Lenovo and reversing the situation, Liu Chuanzhi announced his retirement from the position of Chairman of Board on November 2, 2011, passing the reins to the leader team headed by Yang Yuanqing.

In June 2011, Legend sold 8% of Lenovo shares to Yang Yuanqing, making the core management the true owner of the company. In October 2011, International Data Corporation (IDC), a world famous market research firm, released its statistics, showing that Lenovo grew from the 4th largest PC maker in the world to the second within just two quarters.

After resigning, Liu Chuanzhi undertook the position of honorary Chairman of Lenovo. He would focused on leading Legend Holdings, the parent company of Lenovo, to develop its business.

In 2012, Zhu Linan was appointed President of Legend Holdings.

In order to build a strong leadership and advance towards higher goals, on June 18, 2012 Legend Holdings appointed Zhu Linan, the former Standing Executive Vice President of Legend Holdings and member of the Executive Committee, as President of Legend Holdings, upon the nomination by Liu Chuanzhi and unanimous approval by the board of directors. Liu Chuanzhi remained the Chairman of Board of Legend and President of the Executive Committee.

As the highest level of management, the Executive Committee takes full responsibility of corporate management and has to perform its functions in establishing/implementing corporate development strategy, deploying/managing business, allocating resources, developing corporate policy/culture/organization, and selecting/training leaders and talents.

In 2012, Legend Capital changed its name to “Jun Lian Zi Ben”.

In February 2012, Legend Capital changed its name to “Jun Lian Zi Ben”.

In 2012, Joyvio Group was established.

Joyvio Group, formerly known as the Agriculture and Food Division of Legend Holdings, is an investment firm under Legend’s business sector of agricultural & food. It has built up leading globalized industrial platforms for beverages, fruits, animal proteins and branded packaged food. It became an independent subsidiary on May 18, 2012 and launched its brand as Joyvio. While a ‘3-entire’ model was built up as ‘entire chain traceability, entire industrial chain operation, and entire global deployment’, Joyvio is dedicated to investing/building leading agri-businesses, serving customers with safe and high quality food by integrating global resources, and committed to serving the country by advancing the development of modern agriculture as a return to the country.

In 2012, Zeny Supply Chain was established.

Zeny Supply Chain is an integrated service provider for frozen food and cold chain. Its business covers cold storage investment/construction/operation of cold storages, wholesale market operation, trading services, port services and other supply chain services.

In 2012, Legend invested in UIB.

UIB is a comprehensive financial and insurance service group integrating insurance brokerage, insurance sales, actuary, e-commerce, ‘innovative and entrepreneurial base’ and internet finance.

In 2012, Zhengqi Financial was established.

Zhengqi Financial was established by soly Legend Holdings in Hefei, Anhui. It is a leading pseudo-banking holding company that specializes itself providing fund-raising services to SMEs as well as other pseudo-banking business. It has 9 business units. Taking “Fund-raising and wisdom-raising for SMES to promote the growth of real economy” as its mission, it is committed to be a benchmark to the industry and carry influence within China.

In 2013, Lenovo PC emerged as world’s No. 1 by market share.

On July 11, 2013, as shown by data from IDC and Gartner, two international IT market analysis institutes, Lenovo emerged as world’s No. 1 by market share in the second quarter of 2013, becoming the leader in the global PC market for the first time.

In 2014, Lenovo completed acquisition of Motorola Mobility.

On January 30, 2014, Lenovo announced its USD 2.9 billion acquisition of Motorola Mobility from Google. Motorola Mobility’s 3,500 employees, 2,000 patents, brands, logos and over 50 operators in the world were all transferred to Lenovo Mobile Business Group.

In 2014, China Auto Rental (CAR) was listed in Hong Kong.

On September 19, 2014, CAR was listed in Hong Kong with the stock code 0699.HK, becoming the first car rental service provider in China to go public.

In 2014, Lenovo completed acquisition of the IBM x86 server business.

On September 29, 2014, Lenovo and IBM announced that all formalities of Lenovo’s acquisition of the IBM x86 sever business had been completed. Lenovo became third largest x86 server producer in the world.

In 2014, Legend Holdings strategically invested in Eloan.

On November 3, 2014, Legend Holdings announced its strategic investment in Beijing Tongcheng Eloan Network Co., Ltd. (Eloan).

In 2014, Legend Holdings invested in Bybo Dental Group.

Bybo Dental Group is a professional dental service chain with a nationwide service network.

In 2015, Legend Holdings Corporation was listed on the main board of the Stock Exchange of Hong Kong.

On June 29, 2015, the IPO of Legend Holdings Corporation, one of the largest diversified investment groups in China, was wrapped up with the stock code as 3396.HK.

In 2015, Legend Holdings established JC Leasing, stepping into the finance & leasing industry.

In November 2015, Legend Holdings invested RMB 1.5 billion to set up JC International Finance & Leasing Co., Ltd. in Shanghai. Being a member company that is specialized in financial leasing and related financial services, JC Leasing attracted a team of experienced talents from the industry to deliver fine management and professional services so as to build up competitive products that lead the finance & leasing industry.

In 2015, Legend Holdings invested in Social Touch.

On August 31, 2015, Legend Holdings announced its strategic investment in Social Touch. The internet and mobile prevalence stimulated a flourishing development of enterprises of mobile marketing like Social Touch.

In 2015, Joyvio and Golden Wing Mau announced their strategic merger to build a world-class fruit enterprise.

On December 16, 2015, Joyvio Group and Golden Wing Mau, the largest fruit supply chain enterprise in China, announced a strategic merger, both reaching a milestone of growth. The new venture, named Joyvio Golden Wing Mau, became the largest full-industrial-chain fruit company and a globalized company in China.

In 2016, Legend Holdings strategically invested hundreds of millions in Liquor Easy

On January 5, 2016, Legend Holdings signed for its strategic investment in Liquor Easy. This move was seen as Legend’s continuous planning to shift from the traditional to new type of consumption in the agriculture and food sector.

In April 2016, Legend Holdings strategically invested in Australia’s KB Seafoods to tap the global seafood industry.

On 6 April 2016, Legend Holdings announced signing of strategic cooperation agreement with the Kailis family, a well-known Australian seafood business, to form a joint venture: KB Food Group, of which Legend to hold 90% shares and the Kailis family 10%. KB Food Group incorporated the local seafood leading enterprise from the Kallis’ family, namely the KB Seafood Companys, Kailis’ wholy-owned Kailis Bros, National Fisheries and all other business in New Zealand and Asia. Meanwhile, Legend Holdings announced to enhance the seafood business as a pillar based on which a seafood industrial cluster will be built in the effort of growing KB Food into one of the leaders in seafood industry in Asia Pacific region and even the world.

In June 2016, Legend Holdings invested in Pension Insurance Corporation Group (PIC)

Pension Insurance Corporation Group (PIC) is a specialist insurer of pension funds, incorporated in London in 2006. As one of the largest pension insurance company in UK, PIC provides insurance solutions to different fixed-income annuity products. Closed Book business from other life insurance companies was also acquired. In total, the company provided insurance solution to more than 130,000 employees for their annuities, taking 1/3 of the market share in terms of fixed-income annuity market in UK.

In 2016, Legend Holdings signed to transfer the development business of Raycom Real Estate to Sunac.

In September 2016, Legend Holdings signed a cooperative framework agreement with Sunac, under which Legend would transfer its development business of Raycom Real Estate to Sunac. This move indicated the advancement of Legend’s ‘Strategic Focus’ and further implementation.

In 2016, Zhengqi Financial brought in strategic investors of ITG Holding and Cindafund with total RMB 800 million from both.

In December 2016, Zhengqi Financial brought in strategic investors of ITG Holding and Cindafund with total RMB 800 million from both. Zhengqi’s valuation increased to RMB 9.3 billion from RMB 2.5 billion 4 years ago.

In May 2017, CAS Holdings Ltd. invested RMB 850 million strategically in Levima Advanced Materials Co., Ltd.

As the main body for external investments on behalf of CAS, CAS Holdings took stake in LAM and became a strategic shareholder of the company, an effort to promote supply-side reform further, stick to demand-led and strategic-oriented, make use of the convergence of capital, innovation chain and industrial chain, and bring along the transformation and upgrading of the industry. The synergetic effect was also worth of expectation in particular. The strategic investment from CAS Holdings to LAM will help to realize the supplementary advantages between them, that is, R&D and technical reserves from CAS and industrial base, management expertise and operation capability from LAM. 

After the convergence is made between the three chains of industry, innovation and capital, LAM will be able to outline its strategic blueprint of focusing on in-depth development of olefin while extending to both upstream and downstream at the same time. On the one hand, LAM will keep improving its operation capability to raise its profitability; On the other hand, it will structure a new pole of growth through cooperating with CAS who has, after years of research and accumulation, many core technical results in the area of new material. 

In 2017, Phylion Battery was acquired and exited.

In 2017, Legend Holdings took stake of EAL and participated the pilot program of hybrid ownership reform for SOEs.

EAL was the first state-owned enterprise in the civil aviation and air transportation sector to have transformed into an integrated aviation logistic service provider. In September 2016, the Government made clear "6+1" pilot list for the first batch of hybrid ownership reform. EAL became the first, from the field of civil aviation, to carry out hybrid ownership reform. The investment into EAL echoed to Legend’s strategic deployment in the sector of innovative consumption and services, more value will be added to EAL’s continuous development through Legend’s management expertise, SOE reform experience and commercial resources that Legend has accumulated and acquired after years of business operations and investment practices.

In 2017, Legend Holdings strategically invested in Better Sun Education

In July 2017, Legend Holdings strategically invested in Better Sun Education Group, a leading self-run chain kindergarten group. Through the stake-taking, Legend Holdings will tap the education sector, with a hope to create a positive influence to the society while improving its value.

In 2018, Legend Holdings was approved to become the first pilot company of "full circulation" in the H-share Market.

On April 23, Legend Holdings received the approval from the China Securities Regulatory Commission for the company's application and became the first pilot company of "full circulation" in the H-share. After the conversion is completed, the Company's H-shares tradable-to-share ratio and the market cap of circulation will be enhanced, the shareholder structure will be further diversified, and the company's image and reputation will also benefit from participating in the pilot project and implementing the conversion. At the same time, the shareholders’ interests and the investors’ in Hong Kong market will be closer. It will also help motivate the senior management team and employees to give further play to their enthusiasm, hence continue to push the company's value creation and growth.

Legend Holdings Strategically Invests in Banque Internationale à Luxembourg

Legend Holdings has received all regulatory approvals including those of Commission de Surveillance du Secteur Financier (CSSF) and European Central Bank (ECB) and completed the project filing at the National Development and Reform Commission for the acquisition of the 89.936% stake in Banque Internationale à Luxembourg (BIL). The transaction has therefore been successfully completed on July 2nd 2018.

The strategic investment in BIL is a breakthrough of cultivating the pillar assest in Legend Holdings’ financial services segment and will improve the overall value and financial stability of Legend Holdings，providing better return to the Shareholders.

In 2019, Lakala Payment Co., Ltd. was listed on the ChiNext Board of the Shenzhen Stock Exchange.

Lakala Payment Co., Ltd. was listed on the ChiNext Board of SHSE on April 25, 2019, marking the first IPO by a 3rd-party payment firm solely in the A-share market.

In 2019, the Completion of the Hereditary Succession at Legend Holdings

On 18th December 2019, Mr. Liu Chuanzhi, Chairman of the Board of Legend Holdings, Executive Director, and Founder of the Lenovo Group Limited will retire as the Chairman and Executive Director of the Company in accordance with a predesignated plan. He will serve as Honorary Chairman, Senior Advisor and the Member of Strategy Committee of the Board of Directors. Mr. Zhu Linan, Executive Director and the President of Legend Holdings, will resign as the President but continue to serve as Director of Legend Holdings, and he will be the Member of Strategy Committee of the Board of Directors.

As a result of the recommendation from the Nomination Committee of Legend Holdings’ Board of Directors and resolution passed by Board of Directors, Mr. Ning Min, the current Executive Director, Senior Vice-President and Chief Financial Officer (CFO) of Legend Holdings, will succeed Mr. Liu Chuanzhi as Chairman of the Board, and Mr. Ning Min is appointed as the Chairman of the Nomination Committee and Strategy Committee. Meanwhile, Mr. Li Peng, Senior Vice President, is appointed as the Chief Executive Officer (CEO), following the resolution passed by the Board of Directors. As newly established core management team, Mr. Ning Min and Mr. Li Peng, will steer the Company towards its vision and mission and beyond.