The way I understood it, Lenovo bought the IP (and some staff) for product lines they were already building on IBMs behalf- this is hardly the same as the current situation.

That is incorrect. IBM sold parts of its hardware business, along with employees and IP rights, to Lenovo. Years ago, IBM also sold its ThinkPad brand to Lenovo. The two companies are not exactly related to one another.

Everything with IBM it's some strange act of financial engineering.

Everyone who worked in the PC division of IBM essentially worked for Lenovo one day. They used the same people, processes, part numbers, etc for many years. Lexmark was the same story a few years earlier.

The only change was that the IBM account exec that plays golf with your CEO didn't give as shit about PCs anymore.