BlackBerry Ltd.
BB,
said Monday it has entered an agreement to sell legacy patents relating mostly to mobile devices, messaging and wireless networking to Catapult IP Innovations Inc. for $600 million. The Canadian cybersecurity company said patents essential to its core business are not included in the deal. BlackBerry will have a license back to the patents being sold and customers will not feel any impact on the use of its products or services. Delaware-based Catapult is a special purpose vehicle that was formed to acquire the patents and will fund the deal using a loan provided by a syndicate led by Toronto-based Third Eye Capital that includes a Canadian pension fund. Shares were down 1.7% premarket and have fallen 44% in the last 12 months, while the S&P 500
SPX,
has gained 19%.
