BlackBerry To Sell Majority Of Canadian Real Estate Holdings

(RTTNews) - Struggling Canadian smartphone maker BlackBerry Ltd. (BBRY, BB.TO) agreed Friday to sell the majority of its Canadian real estate holdings as part of its ongoing global business efficiency program. The company expects the deal to close in the first quarter of fiscal 2015,

Waterloo, Ontario-based BlackBerry's current move will further boost its financial flexibility and raise additional cash to support its global business operations.

"The successful sale of property in Canada will help us move toward our goal of continued operational efficiency. As previously stated, BlackBerry remains committed to having a strong presence in Canada and we continue to consider Waterloo home to our global headquarters," Executive Chair and CEO John Chen said in a statement.

The ongoing efficiency program was launched to improve operational efficiencies, optimize resource usage and shift resources to support operations as the continues to improve business.

The deal will see BlackBerry selling more than 3 million square feet of space as well as vacant lands. BlackBerry will also lease back a portion of the space.

The company noted that the deal is subject to certain conditions, and may not be completed on the negotiated terms, or at all. It added that additional terms of the deal will be announced once the principal conditions are satisfied or waived by the parties.

BlackBerry had revealed plans in late January to strategically divest the majority of its commercial real estate portfolio through a combination of sale-leaseback and vacant asset sales. Commercial real estate services company CBRE Ltd. (CBG) served as an advisor to BlackBerry for the deal.

Blackberry had in November 2013 dropped plans to sell itself and replaced CEO Thorsten Heins with John Chen, after Fairfax Financial Holdings Ltd., holder of a 10 percent stake in Blackberry, backed off from its bid to buy the company. Faifax instead agreed to invest about $1 billion in the company along with other institutional investors.

BlackBerry, once a leader in the smartphone segment, fell into hard times after Apple Inc.'s (AAPL) iPhones and devices running on Google Inc.'s (GOOG) popular Android platform began to dominate the market.

In late December, BlackBerry reported a $4.40 billion loss for the third quarter, reflecting one-time charges and weak demand for its devices.

In Friday's regular trading session, BBRY is currently trading at $9.59, up $0.17 or 1.80% on a volume of 2.95 million shares, and BB.TO is trading on the TSX at C$10.76, up $0.15 or 1.41% on a volume of 0.89 million shares.