Back in January of this year, BlackBerry entered into a patent sale agreement with Catapult IP Innovations Inc., a Delaware company, pursuant to which BlackBerry agreed to sell substantially all of its non-core patent assets to Catapult for total consideration of $600 million.
BlackBerry stated that closing of the Patent Sale Transaction was expected by the end of the first quarter of fiscal 2023, Â subject to the satisfaction of financing and other closing conditions.
BlackBerry provided an update today, saying Catapult continues to work on securing its required financing and BlackBerry looks forward to the completion of the Patent Sale Transaction.Â
However, BlackBerry is no longer under exclusivity with Catapult and, given the length of time that the transaction has taken, BlackBerry is exploring alternative options in parallel.
The transaction, involves the sale of over 38,000 BlackBerry patents and related licensing assets. Patents that are essential to BlackBerry’s current core business operations are excluded from the transaction. BlackBerry will receive a license back to the patents being sold.
Catapult is a special purpose vehicle formed to acquire the BlackBerry patent assets. Catapult’s principal funding for the acquisition was reported to be a $450 million senior secured term loan, for which it had received $400 million of conditional commitments from a lending syndicate led by Toronto-based Third Eye Capital that includes a Canadian pension fund.Â
