Executives at Canadian smartphone manufacturer BlackBerry are open to the idea of taking the company private, according to a Reuters report referencing several sources familiar with the situation.
The attitude of the handset maker’s board has changed…
Executives at Canadian smartphone manufacturer BlackBerry are open to the idea of taking the company private, according to a Reuters report referencing several sources familiar with the situation.
The attitude of the handset maker’s board has changed and the prospect of turning around the business away from the full glare of publicity that comes with being a high-profile listed company has become attractive, sources cited in the report said.
However, a sale process has not been launched and it is unclear what level of interest there might be for the company previously known as Research In Motion, which has a market capitalisation of US$4.76bn.
It reportedly met with private equity firm Silver Lake Partners, in the midst of a battle to get control of Dell, about partnering but discussions regarding a transaction have not taken place.
When contacted, BlackBerry said it did not comment on rumour or speculation.
Towards the end of last year, BlackBerry’s share price rose in anticipation of a new line of smartphones set to be released by the company and peaked at US$17.90 in January. The stock has now fallen back to US$9.23.
In July the handset maker’s CEO, Thorsten Heins, said it was open to any strategic opportunities that will maximise value for its investors.
Earlier this year the CFO of Chinese PC-maker Lenovo said it was looking at Blackberry as an acquisition target. Last August it was reported that IBM was interested in acquiring the Canadian company’s network operations centres, which consist of servers that secure and compress content delivered to its devices. It has also been suggested that Blackberry could split its business into two.
