FairFax BlackBerry Buyout Might Be Marred By Funding Issues

Back in September Fairfax Financial Holdings, one of the largest shareholders of the company, submitted a non-binding buyout bid of $9 per share for BlackBerry. Fairfax already owns 10 percent of the company, its proposal to purchase the outstanding shares would cost it $4.7 billion. There have already been a number of reports in the past detailing how difficult Fairfax is finding it to secure funds for the deal. A new report from Reuters claims that several large banks have declined to lend money as they’re concerned about BlackBerry not being able to turn itself around in the future, even after it has gone private.

Fairfax is working with Bank of America Merrill Lynch and BMO Capital Markets to raise funding. Citing sources familiar with the matter, the report claims “several large lenders” have declined to fund the deal due to the aforementioned concern. Prem Watsa, Fairfax’s CEO, claimed back in September that they’ll be able to raise the required funds, but so far no definitive proof of that has emerged. Watsa’s outfit has until November 4th to return with a final bid after conducting its due diligence, analysts are of the view that the bid might be reduced to as low as $5 per share if there are no other buyers. A recent report suggests that Cerberus Capital Management, Qualcomm and BlackBerry co-founders Mike Lazaridis and Douglas Fregin might jointly bid for the company, both co-founders have already announced their intention to bid for BlackBerry.

Adnan Farooqui
Categories: General
Tags: BlackBerry