BlackBerry agrees to $4.7bn sale

BlackBerry, the beleaguered Canadian smartphone maker, has agreed to be acquired for $4.7bn (£2.9bn) by a private equity consortium led by Toronto-based Fairfax Financial.

Fairfax already owns 10pc of Blackberry and would pay other investors $9 per share. The deal is subject to due diligence and regulatory approval. BlackBerry shares opened at $8.22 on Monday. 

The offer was announced by Prem Watsa, the chairman of Fairfax. He was a member of the BlackBerry board until the company announced it was exploring “strategic alternatives” last month and his departure was seen as a signal that Fairfax would come forward with a bid. 

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He said: “We believe this transaction will open an exciting new private chapter for BlackBerry, its customers, carriers and employees.” 

The announcement comes days after BlackBerry warned it would make a quarterly operating loss of nearly $1bn and revenues would fall well short of analysts’ estimates. It said it would cut 4,500 jobs, 40pc of its total workforce. 

The company introduced new smartphones and software earlier this year in an effort to regain ground lost to Apple and Samsung, but sales have been disastrously low.