Monday, January 21, 2013

RIM Jumps After CEO Says Hardware Sale Possible: Toronto Mover

Research In Motion Ltd. (RIM) jumped as much as 8.6 percent after its chief executive officer said the BlackBerry handset maker is considering strategic options including a sale of its hardware production unit.Possibilities include “the sale of hardware production as well as licensing of our software,” CEO Thorsten Heins was reported as saying in an interview with German newspaper Die Welt. Nick Manning, a spokesman for the Waterloo, Ontario-based company, said those options are examples that Heins cited among the possibilities under consideration in a strategic review.

The company hired JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM) and RBC Capital Markets in May to help it evaluate options. While Heins hasn’t ruled out a sale of the company, he has said RIM’s focus is on exploring strategic partnerships or software licencing deals. On Jan. 30, there will be the debut of the new BlackBerry 10 devices that RIM is counting on to reverse a sales slide and help it win back market share lost to Apple Inc. (AAPL)’s iPhone and handsets that run Google Inc. (GOOG)’s Android software.

RIM was 8.3 percent up at C$17.01 as of 10:53 a.m. in Toronto after climbing as high as C$17.06 earlier in the day.

The stock has more than doubled since late September on growing optimism for BlackBerry 10’s prospects. RIM isn’t trading today in New York because of a public holiday.

The strategic review continues “but there is no reason for us to rush to decide,” Heins was quoted as saying by Die Welt. “First and foremost, it’s important to bring BlackBerry 10 successfully to market.”

To contact the reporter on this story: Hugo Miller in Toronto at hugomiller@bloomberg.net

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