BlackBerry to sell most Canadian real estate holdings

BlackBerry says it intends to sell the majorityof its commercial real estate holdings in Canada, but will keep its headquarters in Waterloo, Ont.

Of the real estate holdings for sale, 78.3 per cent are located in Waterloo Region, according to a promotional pamphlet released by BlackBerry.

Thesmartphone maker plans to use acombination of vacant sales and sale-leaseback arrangements indivesting the properties.

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"BlackBerry remains committed to being headquartered in Waterloo and having a strong presence in Canada along with other global hubs," said BlackBerry CEO and executive chair John Chen in a release Tuesday afternoon.

However, the pamphlet promoting the company's real estate holdingsnoted that more than 2.2 million square feet of real estate in Waterloo would be sold, including buildings and property, which it says is "historically renowned as BlackBerrys home base andthe epicentre of much of the technological innovation developed by BlackBerry over the past 30 years."

Specific real estate holdings for sale include:

• Northfield Campus in Waterloo spanning nearly 19 acres of land and 677,436 square feet of office space.
• University Campus in Waterloo, which includes nine buildings boasting almost one million square feet of space.
• Cambridge Campus, which is over 700,000 square feetof mostlywarehouse space.
• Mississauga Airport Corporate CentreCampus, which is a newlycompleted office facility with an additional fiveacres of development land.
• Ottawa Campus, which includes two office buildings and over 10 acres of development land.

BlackBerry did not put a value on the real estate holdings butsaid those being offered for sale comprise more than three millionsquare feet of space.

"This initiative will further enhanceBlackBerry'sfinancial flexibility, and will provide additional resources to support our operations as our business continues to evolve," said Chen.

The company said the transactions are being handled by CBRE Ltd.,a commercial real estate company.