Michael Lazaridis and Douglas Fregin are “exploring the possibility” of a joint bid for BlackBerry Ltd., the ailing smartphone maker they co-founded in 1985.

A filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission Thursday, which also shows Lazaridis has increased his stake in the Waterloo, Ont.-based company to 8 per cent from 5.7 per cent, said the childhood friends “have agreed to work exclusively with each other” on an offer to acquire remaining shares of the company.

The filing did not provide financial details or say if the pair has secured financing for the deal. Together, Lazaridis and Fregin own about 16 per cent of BlackBerry.

The filing said they intend to pursue “the goal of stabilizing and ultimately reinventing the company.”

Lazaridis and Fregin said they will “jointly coordinate with respect to the development of a strategy” and said they have hired Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Centerview Partners LLC to advise on their options. Lazaridis did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The Wall Street Journal in September said Lazaridis had approached U.S. private equity funds Blackstone Group and the Carlyle Group about support for an offer but said talks were preliminary.

A bid from Lazaridis and Fregin would compete with a proposal by a coalition of investors led by BlackBerry’s largest single shareholder, Fairfax Financial, which holds about 10 per cent of the company.

The group signed a letter of intent with BlackBerry in August to take it private in a $4.7 billion (U.S.) or $9 per share acquisition.

The letter said Toronto-based Fairfax has until Nov. 4 to finalize its bid and set out conditions, including the securing of financial backing for the deal. BlackBerry can solicit better offers over the period without penalty.

Shares in BlackBerry have fallen about 10 per cent since the informal proposal was announced amid doubts that investors will commit funding in the face of a drastic decline in BlackBerry’s business.

The company in late September announced a nearly $1 billion operating loss on a writedown of unsold BlackBerry phones and said it would cut almost 40 per cent of its workforce.

BlackBerry has announced a special board committee to consider options, including a sale of all or parts of the company, and has reportedly solicited expressions of interest from at least six technology titans, including Google and Cisco.

Funds including the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board have said that they would consider joining the Fairfax collation but have not publicly committed to do so.

U.S. based distressed asset private equity fund Cerberus Capital Management is looking to sign a confidentiality agreement with BlackBerry to access its financial documents, sources have confirmed.

Lazaridis and Jim Balsillie were co-CEOs of Research in Motion, which has since been renamed BlackBerry, until they stepped down in January 2012 as Apple and Android handsets toppled RIM from its dominant position in the smartphone market. Thorsten Heins became CEO last year.

In March the co-founders said they had formed the Quantum Valley Investments fund to pursue breakthroughs in the emerging field of quantum computing at three Waterloo research institutes.

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Lazaridis in an interview with the Star at the time said he and Fregin have almost 30 years of experience building a global technology business as well as “significant resources from our success in that business.”

BlackBerry shares turned positive on news of the filing, rising 1.1 per cent in New York to $8.20.