Understanding Grand Strategy
BlackBerry aims to go private in $4.7bn deal with Fairfax Financial group
Troubled smartphone maker, whose shares have plummeted in recent times, ready to be sold to Canadian buyer for $9 a share
Heidi Moore in New York, The Guardian theguardian.com, Monday 23 September 2013 19.36 BST
BlackBerry, the once-dominant maker of smartphones that fell on hard times in recent years, has found a suitor willing to pay $4.7bn for the troubled company.
Fairfax Financial, a Canadian firm that already owns 10% of BlackBerry, has agreed to join forced with an unnamed consortium of other buyers to acquire the company for $9 a share.
The move would take BlackBerry private, removing it from a public listing on Nasdaq, where stocks have fallen from a high of $148 in June 2008 and now languish at about $8 a share. On the announcement, BlackBerry stock rose a modest 2% to $8.85 a share, giving the company a market value of $4.65bn.
The deal is not done, however. First, Fairfax will spend two months vetting the company's financial statements. That due diligence is expected to be complete by 4 November, BlackBerry said in a statement.
BlackBerry said it could take a better offer if another buyer appears.
The agreement, which halted BlackBerry's stock on the Nasdaq at $8.23 a share in midday trading, is only a letter of intent, which is a step below a full merger agreement. Fairfax is still "seeking financing from BoA Merrill Lynch and BMO Capital Markets," BlackBerry said, indicating that any deal is in its very early stages.
Analysts have been skeptical about BlackBerry's efforts to turn itself around, and several of them released a batch of downbeat assessments before the sale announcement.
BlackBerry announced last week that it would miss revenue estimates by a large amount, warning Wall Street that it would only record revenues of $1.6bn instead of the $3.1bn expected by analysts. The company also said it would write off about $1bn due to excess inventory of the
Troubled smartphone maker, whose shares have plummeted in recent times, ready to be sold to Canadian buyer for $9 a share
Heidi Moore in New York, The Guardian theguardian.com, Monday 23 September 2013 19.36 BST
BlackBerry, the once-dominant maker of smartphones that fell on hard times in recent years, has found a suitor willing to pay $4.7bn for the troubled company.
Fairfax Financial, a Canadian firm that already owns 10% of BlackBerry, has agreed to join forced with an unnamed consortium of other buyers to acquire the company for $9 a share.
The move would take BlackBerry private, removing it from a public listing on Nasdaq, where stocks have fallen from a high of $148 in June 2008 and now languish at about $8 a share. On the announcement, BlackBerry stock rose a modest 2% to $8.85 a share, giving the company a market value of $4.65bn.
The deal is not done, however. First, Fairfax will spend two months vetting the company's financial statements. That due diligence is expected to be complete by 4 November, BlackBerry said in a statement.
BlackBerry said it could take a better offer if another buyer appears.
The agreement, which halted BlackBerry's stock on the Nasdaq at $8.23 a share in midday trading, is only a letter of intent, which is a step below a full merger agreement. Fairfax is still "seeking financing from BoA Merrill Lynch and BMO Capital Markets," BlackBerry said, indicating that any deal is in its very early stages.
Analysts have been skeptical about BlackBerry's efforts to turn itself around, and several of them released a batch of downbeat assessments before the sale announcement.
BlackBerry announced last week that it would miss revenue estimates by a large amount, warning Wall Street that it would only record revenues of $1.6bn instead of the $3.1bn expected by analysts. The company also said it would write off about $1bn due to excess inventory of the