Leo de Bever, Chief Executive Officer at AIMCO (Alberta Investment Management Corporation) is photographed in Calgary, Alberta on Thursday, Jan. 17, 2013, at a media availability.Chris Bolin/The Globe and Mail
Leo de Bever, CEO of Alberta Investment Management Corp., says he would like to participate in a deal to salvage BlackBerry Ltd. as a Canadian company. But he hasn't seen a proposal yet that he's convinced will make solid money.
"It's extremely frustrating," he says. "As a Canadian, I would like to have a solution that gives me profitability and a viable company – hey, why wouldn't I? But so far, that hasn't been happening."
Indeed, Mr. de Bever calls this "the most bizarre deal I've ever been involved in."
"Everybody's talking, nobody's doing," he says, while acknowledging "maybe there is something brewing that I'm not aware of because it hasn't surfaced yet."
So far the only bidder to publicly throw its hat in the ring is Fairfax Financial Holdings Ltd., which is currently in the midst of conducting due diligence and has until Nov. 4 to firm up its $9-per-share (U.S.) offer to take BlackBerry private. Fairfax has not named its potential partners in the deal, but CEO Prem Watsa has said that the Toronto-based company now has more than enough equity support.
Fairfax had approached Canadian pension plans, in addition to various other financial and industry players, about participating in its offer.
New York-based private equity firm Cerberus Capital Management LP is also known to be looking at a potential rival bid.
Mr. de Bever said he owes it to his clients to evaluate all opportunities.
"I'm just doing what seems to come naturally, and that is if anyone comes along with a business proposal that makes economic sense, I'll look at it," Mr. de Bever said. "We haven't seen a business plan. It's all been very speculative."
He added that he thinks time is wasting.
"The shame in all this is that this is a huge distraction for BlackBerry itself," he said. "This company, when you really look at the state it's in, it will be losing ground if this doesn't get settled quickly. So anything that's going to happen better happen quickly, because value is being destroyed."
(Tara Perkins is a Globe and Mail Real Estate Reporter.)
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