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Hong Kong - Shares of Chinese computer and phone maker Lenovo tumbled 1.71% on Friday following a report it is mulling a counter bid to buy struggling Canadian smartphone maker BlackBerry.
The Wall Street Journal reported on Friday that Lenovo is considering a counter bid to buy all of Canadian smartphone manufacturer BlackBerry.
The newspaper, citing unnamed sources close to the matter, said that Lenovo had signed a confidentiality agreement to access BlackBerry's accounts.
If Lenovo did buy BlackBerry, the deal would be one of the biggest and highest-profile purchases of a Western company by a Chinese firm, the report said.
In August, BlackBerry said it was setting up a committee to decide whether to put itself up for sale or to pursue other options for the company, once a leader in the smartphone market but now in deep difficulties.
Canadian investment fund Fairfax Financial, which owns 10.0% of BlackBerry, offered on September 23 to buy the rest of the business for $9.0 per share, valuing the company at $4.7bn.
Last week, the founder of BlackBerry Mike Lazaridis said he was thinking about making a counter bid.
Lazaridis, who owns 5.7% of the shares, has reached an agreement with another founder of the firm, Canadian Douglas Fregin, to look at buying the shares they do not own. Together, they hold 8.0% of the capital.
If Lenovo did buy BlackBerry, the deal would be one of the biggest and highest-profile purchases of a Western company by a Chinese firm, the report said.
However, Lenovo's Hong Kong-listed shares fell on Friday, closing at HK$8.07. The company has declined to comment on the report.
"I just don't see a good logic," CLSA head of Asia Pacific technology research Nicolas Baratte said. "There is little value left in BlackBerry."
And Alberto Moel, an analyst at Sanford C Bernstein, said: "If I were Lenovo, I wouldn't do it."
He added that given BlackBerry's rapidly declining market share, eroding client base and demoralised workforce, a deal would be far riskier and less beneficial than other acquisitions it has made in the past.
