A buyout consortium led by Prem Watsa's Fairfax Financial has given a USD 4.7 billion offer for Canadian smartphone maker BlackBerry Ltd. Analysts gave their views on the offer on Reuters Instant View.

Strategist and Vice President of Research at Global Securities Elvis Picardo said the deal would help BlackBerry get its house back in order out of the public eye before jumping back to the market again. Jack Gold of Gold Associates agreed, saying the deal represented the best outcome for the smartpone maker. "They would be a much smaller player, but being private would mean that Wall Street is not continuously breathing down their neck," Gold added.

Sprung Investment Management President Michael Sprung said the offer came as a surprise since the company already made its poor earnings known. "I think it remains to be seen how this is likely to play out. It has certainly given the company time to shop up for a higher bid here. One thing it will probably have accomplished is a higher floor price on the stock," he said.