BlackBerry set for $4.7 billion Fairfax group acquisition

Troubled smartphone maker BlackBerry has agreed in principle to be acquired by a consortium led by Canada based Fairfax Financial Holdings Ltd for $4.7 billion.

Fairfax consortium is led by Hyderabad India born, Canadian investor Prem Watsa who owns 10 per cent of BlackBerry. It has offered to pay $9 a share in cash for the Canadian company.

Blackberry, already in big trouble, was expected to explore “strategic alternatives” in hopes of enhancing the company’s value and bolstering adoption of its BlackBerry 10 platform. Also important to note that BlackBerry’s BB10 phones, based on a new operating platform, was billed as marking the turnaround in BlackBerry’s fortunes but it has failed to gain market share.

Research in Motion, the company behind the iconic BlackBerry, pioneered in 1999, had been the dominant smartphone for on-the-go business people and other consumers before Apple debuted the iPhone in 2007 and showed that phones can handle much more than email and phone calls.