After endless rumors and speculation, it was finally announced in the last week of September that BlackBerry has signed a letter of intent with Fairfax Financial Holdings, which submitted a $9 per share buyout offer to take the ailing smartphone manufacturer private to the tune of $4.7 billion. While Fairfax conducts due diligence, BlackBerry is free to seek other buyers who might have a better offer. So far, there haven’t been reports of any other offers being put on the table. Several analysts are now of the view that Fairfax might come back with a reduced offer, after seeing that it is the only one interested in acquiring BlackBerry.
Eric Jackson of Ironfire Capital tells ATD that after seeing BlackBerry’s recent earnings report, Fairfax’s bid might range between $5 and $7 per share. BlackBerry recently announced an operating loss of nearly $1 billion as well as a 45 percent fall in revenues. Peter Misek of Jefferies believes that the bid might be revised and brought down to $7 per share. There hasn’t been any indication as yet from Fairfax itself if its indeed going to bring the buyout bid down. As it stands, Fairfax is already a majority stakeholder in the company, it currently owns roughly 10 percent of BlackBerry shares, it seeks to purchase the remaining 90 percent.
Filed in . Read more about BlackBerry.