BlackBerry's USD1 billion convertible debt offer had Qatar Holding LLC as one of its investors. This was confirmed by a source familiar with the financing plan of the beleaguered smartphone maker last Wednesday.
Qatar's sovereign wealth fund purchased nearly USD200 million in the debt offer. Fairfax Financial Holdings bought in USD250 million. Fairfax is the largest shareholder in BlackBerry and had just recently pulled out of its bid for the firm because of lack of financing available.
The firm had just decided last Monday to pull itself out of the market and also replaced its incumbent CEO. This resulted in a 16% drop in its share prices. Its next move was to offer the convertible debt to only a small group of long-term investors, such as Fairfax.
The anonymous source said the Qatar fund invested in the company because of the coupon size offered in the convertible debt instrument. For its part, Qatar Holding declined to comment on the matter.
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