PwC Said To Be Working With BlackBerry For Exploring And Evaluating Potential Acquirer

Pricewhaterhouse (PwC), one of the big four accountancy firms, has been hired by BlackBerry for the evaluation of Canadian smart-phone maker for prospective buyers. According to the sources, a team of lawyers and accountants from PwC has been working since August. Spokesman for BlackBerry and spokeswoman for PwC both denied to comment about this.

BlackBerry has been working with many consultants after having a strategic review. It consulted with its bankers at JPMorgan and hired Perella Weinberg Partners for helping it in exploring it options. The sources said, the company has been cutting jobs and rotating around employees to streamline its operations. It is said that BlackBerry will continue to make changes in its workforce with job cuts and relocations for reduction in its costs. In the previous year, about 5,000 jobs were eliminated. This job cut was designed to save $1 billion of operating expenses.

Last month BlackBerry announced formation of a committee for evaluation of its strategic options, including potential sale of the company. The committee is led by Tim Dattels, who is a board member and a senior partner at private-equity firm TPG Capital. JPMorgan is advising this committee.

Finding a buyer for BlackBerry is not so easy. RBC Capital Markets and JPMorgan have been silently exploring and evaluating potential buyers for almost one year. They have not yet been successful in finding the potential acquirer.

The sources also said that Fairfax Financial Holding Ltd., who is the largest shareholder of BlackBerry, has been contacting pension fund managers from Canada to build support for a homegrown bid for the company.

Despite looking for potential buyer, BlackBerry has not stopped from innovating and introducing new products. It recently launched its largest touch screen smart-phone ever and opened up its instant messaging service to its competitor operating systems.