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“The restructuring of our convertible debt will enable us to significantly reduce our interest expense and potential future dilution for our shareholders,” Blackberry’s CEO John Chen said in a media release. “I am pleased that Fairfax will continue as BlackBerry’s leading lender, reinforcing its ongoing commitment to the company as we continue to execute on our strategy of pursuing growth and sustainable profitability.”

A spokesperson for Blackberry told the Financial Post that the company will not be making any further comment.

The trading of shares of the company were briefly halted Friday afternoon, in Toronto on the TSX and in New York on the Nasdaq, before it announced the convertible debenture redemption and the new issuance.

The Waterloo-based mobile phone and software company has struggled to stay afloat in the evolving smartphone market. It recently pivoted its business to emphasize software, and doubled its software revenue on a year-over-year in the first fiscal quarter.

BlackBerry posted a loss of US$690 million in its most recent quarterly financial reports. That it’s hemorrhaging money isn’t news either: the company lost US$238 million in the previous quarter and US$89 million in the quarter before that.

While the company has kept a rosy public face, its underlying financials haven’t given much cause for optimism.

In 2009, the company had 20 per cent of the smartphone market share, which has since fallen to 1 per cent. Its handset division sold 500,000 phones last quarter, or about 100,000 fewer than the quarter before. At its peak, Blackberry was selling millions of phones every quarter.

Since late July, BlackBerry shares have risen to their highest levels since spring, hovering around US$8 on the NASDAQ. The company was rated by Raymond James Financial as “outperform,” who boosted its price target to US$10.50 from US$8. With shares where they are, there could be nearly 30 per cent in upside if Raymond James’ estimates bear out over time.

The company’s Nasdaq listed shares are down US$14.71 in 2016. Its stock was trading at $10.28 before shares were halted on the TSX.