Within the past 45 minutes, trading of BlackBerry was halted on all stock exchanges pending more news and initial news has now been released that the struggling company has signed a preliminary letter of intent to sell the company to a new consortium led by its largest shareholder in Fairfax Financial for $4.7 billion.The deal would see its current shareholders earn $9 per share in cash and is expected to be completed on November 4th. Current Chairman and CEO of Fairfax Financial has released the following statement:
“We believe this transaction will open an exciting new private chapter for BlackBerry, its customers, carriers and employees,” adding, “we can deliver immediate value to shareholders, while we continue the execution of a long-term strategy in a private company with a focus on delivering superior and secure enterprise solutions to BlackBerry customers around the world.”
While this deal is tentatively in place pending due diligence, BlackBerry will still have the option to look and entertain higher offers for the company. Should a better offer not be found by November 4th, the current offer will be completed as announced and should a better or higher offer be accepted by BlackBerry, a termination fee will be paid by BlackBerry to the consortium.
