Major investor backs Qatar’s bid for Canary Wharf owner Songbird Estates
The Qatari sovereign wealth fund and its partner Brookfield's joint £2.6bn bid for Canary Wharf owner Songbird Estates has been provisionally accepted by Madison International Realty.
Madison International Realty owns about 2.5 per cent of the company's stock and around 12 per cent of the free-floating shares.
This, in addition to an earlier acceptance by hedge fund Third Avenue Management, takes public support from shareholders up to about 28 per cent of the free float.
Last week the Qatari sovereign wealth fund and Brookfield Property Partners upped their bid for Canary Wharf to 350p per share, after their earlier £2.2bn bid for Songbird, the parent company of Canary Wharf Group, which owns the estate, was rejected.
But the new offer looks unlikely to meet Songbird's exacting standards: last month sources close to the deal told City A.M. the company would only consider a deal "upwards of 400p per share", which would value the company at £2.25bn, about 25 per cent higher than the original offer.
If a deal does go ahead, it will be the largest UK property deal in a decade.