BlackBerry completed the first stage of the acquisition by Fairfax Financial Holdings Limited
BlackBerry is having one of the hardest and toughest years in the history of the company. Not long ago, the Canadian manufacturer announced that it is considering partial or total selling of the company. Back then there were no clues about who will be interested in buying the mobile giant. The price of BlackBerry was also a mystery. Now we finally get more details and clues about the future of the company. The news comes straight from BlackBerry. The company has entered into a letter of intent agreement for its acquisition by the consortium led by Fairfax Financial Holdings Limited. The price for the deal is nearly $4.7 billion, because each investor in the company will get $9 per share.
This is a huge step of BlackBerry that will certainly bring a lot of changes in the company and will have an impact on the mobile world. The reached agreement between both parties is only the first step of the whole process until the closure of the deal. The acquisition must get the approval by the BlackBerry board and certain regulators. As we know from the recent deals for acquisition, it will take some time until the agreement gets all the needed approvals. Meantime, BlackBerry still has the right to choose another buyer. If that happens, it will pay a termination fee to the consortium. The due diligence period will continue until 4th of November.
The CEO of Fairfax Financial Holdings Limited, Prem Watsa who is also a former member of the BlackBerry Board of Directors made a statement saying that he believes this is a “an exciting new chapter” in the history of the company. According to his words, the consortium is planning to continue the long-term strategy for the development of BlackBerry focusing on providing secure enterprise services. Recently there were rumors that the company is hoping to find a buyer before November. Good news for BlackBerry and hopefully it things will continue going by plan.
Source: BlackBerryPress
