Blackberry Agrees To be Acquired by Fairfax in a Takeover Deal
Struggling smartphone maker Blackberry has agreed in principle to be bought by a consortium led by Fairfax Financial for $4.7bn.
Blackberry
said in statement that Fairfax, its largest shareholder with about 10
percent of the stock, had offered $9 a share in cash to buy the company.
Trading in Blackberry shares was temporarily halted in New York pending the announcement.The Canadian company said it expected to make a loss of up to $1bn after poor sales of its new handsets. In August, Blackberry said it was evaluating a possible sale.
On Friday, the company announced that it had "signed a letter of intent agreement under which a consortium to be led by Fairfax Financial Holdings Limited has offered to acquire the company subject to due diligence".
The statement continued, "Diligence is expected to be complete by November 4, 2013. The parties' intention
is to negotiate and execute a definitive transaction agreement by such date."
However, Blackberry said it was not in exclusive talks with Fairfax and would continue to "actively solicit, receive, evaluate and potentially enter into negotiations" with other potential buyers.
