Board of Directors has formed a Special Committee to explore strategic alternatives to enhance value and increase scale in order to accelerate BlackBerry 10 deployment. These alternatives could include, among others, possible joint ventures, strategic partnerships or alliances, a sale of the Company or other possible transactions. … The Special Committee of the Board is comprised of Barbara Stymiest, Thorsten Heins, Richard Lynch and Bert Nordberg, and will be chaired by Timothy Dattels.
Reports have been focusing on Silver Lake as a likely participant, but we are going to leave any formal suitor picking alone. Our take is that a go-private transaction is going to be fought too much. Many shareholders would suffer forced losses of 50%, 75% or more.
With the alternatives now being formal, we also would make the reminder that a go-private transaction is not the only possibility here. Joint ventures, alliances and other initiatives, or nothing at all, could come from this exploration. Even if BlackBerry manages to secure a buyout offer, this would almost certainly be fought in courts in the United States and in Canada.
Shares closed up 5.74% at $9.76 on word that the company wanted to be run as a private company, and its shares have traded in a 52-week range of $6.22 to $18.32. Its market cap as of the closing price was $5.03 billion, but we would remind investors that the prior peak was well over $100.
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