Alumnus-led consortium to purchase BlackBerry

TORONTO – BlackBerry Ltd. (TSX:BB) has signed a deal to be bought by a consortium led by its largest shareholder in a deal valued at U$4.7 billion, the companies announced Monday.

The consortium led by Fairfax Financial Holdings. Ltd. (TSX:FFH), a Canadian investment firm primarily focused on the insurance industry, has offered US$9 per share in cash for the smartphone maker.

The price was above BlackBerry’s recent value on public markets, following the company’s announcement Friday that it will cut about 40 per cent of its global workforce, about 4,500 jobs, and record a writedown of nearly $1 billion.

Under the deal announced Monday, the consortium will acquire all of the outstanding shares of BlackBerry not held by Toronto-based Fairfax, which owns approximately a 10 per cent of the Waterloo, Ont.-based company.

“We believe this transaction will open an exciting new private chapter for BlackBerry, its customers, carriers and employees,” Fairfax chairman and chief executive Prem Watsa, MBA'74, said in a statement.